On November 16 the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs; World Faiths Development Dialogue; and the United States Embassy to the Holy See met via live video feed for a conference that explored the intersections of faith and the environment, with a focus on implications for policy. The meeting report summarizes key themes and suggested next steps that emerged from the dialogue.
Last spring President Obama challenged American colleges and universities to take up the question of interfaith dialogue and community service. Georgetown’s response to the President’s challenge is an extensive, year-long program of service in the DC community and reflection on campus focused on improving educational opportunity and reducing poverty, in keeping with the Jesuit ideal of “Men and Women for Others.”
It has been 25 years since the US Bishops’ pastoral letter on the economy. On Tuesday, December 6 a roundtable including EJ Dionne and Ross Douthat explored the legacy of the letter and the relevance of Catholic Social Teaching to today’s economic crisis.
On Thursday, November 17, 2011, the Religious Freedom Project hosted a keynote debate on the question of the uniqueness of religious freedom. Debating this critical issue were Harvard Law Professor Noah Feldman and Stanford Law Professor Michael McConnell. Coinciding with the debate, the event featured two related panels to examine the meaning and reach of religious freedom.
Like no other contemporary scholar, Jürgen Habermas exemplifies the ideal of the engaged intellectual. Since the early 1960s his seminal publications have shaped a series of public debates on reason, democracy, and the public sphere. On Wednesday, October 19, Jürgen Habermas delivered the 2011 Berkley Center Lecture on Myth and Ritual.
The Canadian government's decision to open a new office of religious freedom has not been without controversy. Yet in this Globe and Mail editorial, the author argues that the global rise in religious persecution warrants sustained attention. RFP Director Tom Farr is quoted on the important connection between religious freedom and issues of justice and human dignity.
Marley's ghost, in Charles Dickens' great moral parable, The Christmas Carol, reflected in anguish on what, beyond the grave, he finally understood to have been his core moral obligation in life: "Mankind was my business." Just as Marley and his Spirits exhorted Scrooge to confront the realities of poverty and his responsibility to help, we also are confronted during this end of the year holiday season with appeals to our conscience.
Top ten lists are loads of fun, but they often predict future political outcomes worse than the Ames Straw Poll (won by Mitt Romney in 2007 and Michele Bachmann in 2011, thank you). What follows, then, is a look back that tries to look forward. What were the biggest American politics and religion stories of 2011 and how might they play out in the presidential campaign of 2012?
From December 11 to 13, the fourth annual Alliance of Civilizations Forum took place in Doha, Qatar, a splendiferous gathering at Doha's spanking new convention center, occasion for the opening of Katara, Qatar's huge and gorgeous cultural "village." Banners everywhere proclaimed the theme: "Intercultural dialogue to boost development." So what was it all about?
Christopher Hitchens, prolific essayist and author, passed away on December 15, 2011. In 2007, the Berkley Center hosted a debate and discussion with Hitchens on religious belief in the modern world.