Charles Le Gai Eaton wrote in the introduction to his book, Islam and the Destiny of Man (1985), "Religion is a different matter."
This blog's working premise is that the forces of religion influence to a great degree world politics and international debates on critical issues like terrorism and human rights. Even if a country faces the historical absence or minimization of religion, this void will still be a major element in its national debate and policy formation. What should be our working assumptions of the most God-fearing and religious countries in the world? Indeed, those states that base their politics (and foreign policies) to a significant degree on the principles of religious faith will often use rhetoric to characterize the gap between their religiously-inspired policies and the agendas of more secular states.
This blog aims to bring to its readers images and descriptions of world religious belief through in-depth discussion of world news and the voices of foreign policy analysts, who try to uncover the connections between religion today and the world's political dilemmas. The goal is to always appreciate the diverse religious views of people and societies. Knowing what influence religious forces have on governments will also help reveal the complexities of regional politics, thereby permitting a sounder analysis of the foreign policy decision making process.
The interactions between religious governments, people, and their movements and the so-called secular world will dominate the discussion here. Issues such as the war on terror, rule of law, democracy, and human rights will all be brought to the table (this blog) to discover the role of religion in political issues such as nation- and state-building. Blogs will present in the future newsworthy items and current events, but there will also be interviews and literature reviews (in order to provide as much information and research to the readers as possible).
Comments, suggestions, and alerts to newsworthy items from readers of this blog are always welcome.
