Georgetown University: Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs: Conference on the New Religious Pluralism in World Politics

Friday, March 17, 2006
Intercultural Center Auditorium

The "Clash of Civilizations" controversy has obscured the emergence of a new transnational religious landscape marked by both interreligious cooperation and conflict. Over the past two decades, global migration patterns and modern communications technologies have spawned more active transnational religious communities. A new religious pluralism has emerged with two salient characteristics. On the one hand, global religious identities have encouraged interreligious dialogue and greater religious engagement around issues including international development, conflict resolution, and transitional justice. On the other hand, more intense interreligious competition has contributed to controversy over the meaning and scope of religious freedom -- an international norm increasingly prominent in US foreign policy. Both dynamics of the new religious pluralism will shape the global political landscape for decades to come.

The conference brought together leading international scholars from the disciplines of history, law, philosophy, political science, religious studies, and sociology, to address these issues.

Panel 1: Religious Pluralism in Global Perspective

Pratap Mehta, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi
"On the Possibility of Religious Pluralism"

Roland Robertson, University of Aberdeen
"Theocracy and Globalization: National Identity and Religious Freedom in Tension"

John Voll, Georgetown University
"Trans-state Muslim Movements in an Era of Soft Power"

Thomas Michel, SJ, Jesuit Secretariat for Interreligious Dialogue
"Transnational Religious Identities in a Globalized World"

Moderator: Patrick Deneen, Georgetown University

Panel 2: Religious Actors in World Politics

Scott Appleby, University of Notre Dame
"Building Sustainable Peace: The Roles of Local and Transnational Religious Actors"

Leslie Vinjamuri and Aaron Boesenecker, Georgetown University
"Religious Actors and Transitional Justice"

Katherine Marshall, World Bank
"Tense Debates: Religion and Development"

Tom Banchoff, Georgetown University
"Religious Pluralism and the Poltiics of a Global Cloning Ban"

Moderator: Kathleen McNamara, Georgetown University

Panel 3: Religious Freedom and US Foreign Policy

Elizabeth Prodromou, Boston University
"Religion and US Foreign Policy After the Cold War"

Robert Drinan, S.J., Georgetown University
“The Evolution of Religious Freedom in International Law"

Jean Bethke Elshtain, University of Chicago
"Toleration, Proselytizing, and the Politics of Recognition"

John Witte, Emory University
"The Rights and Wrongs of Proselytism in World Politics"

Moderator: Tom Banchoff, Georgetown University