How We Misunderstand the Sources of Religious Violence

November 29, 2016
20th Annual Templeton Lecture on Religion and World Affairs

Few scholars can easily traverse the fields of religion and international relations: those who have a grounding in one or more religious traditions have no feel for the rough and tumble of world politics, and vice-versa. Hence, the reason for this annual lecture, begun 20 years ago. In recent years, however, the phenomenon of religious extremism – particularly but not exclusively Islamic extremism – has earned more attention than we would have hoped. Nonetheless, the sources of religious violence remain widely misunderstood, or so contends our 20th annual Templeton Lecturer Adam Garfinkle. A former speechwriter for Secretary of State Colin Powell, Garfinkle got his start in this field in the 1970s at FPRI, and received his Ph.D. in international relations at the University of Pennsylvania. He has served on the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century, and as editor of The National Interest magazine. Garfinkle has also taught at the University of Pennsylvania and the Johns Hopkins University.