A renewal of attention to religion's public significance has been underway during the last several years, spurred by the prominence of religion in American public life and more recently by the religious dimensions of terrorism and international conflict, as well as by the religious aspects of humanitarian action and post-conflict reconciliation. The SSRC Project on Religion and International Affairs seeks to expand on and deepen this renewed interest. Conceived as part of a larger effort to bring attention to religion more centrally into social science research and analysis, and to contribute to a better understanding of world religion in public policy and public discourse, the project aims to extend our understanding of religion as a critical but often neglected factor in policy issues throughout the world.

Funded by the Luce Foundation, this SSRC project will complement and advance a recently established Luce initiative supporting the integration of religion into the teaching and research of schools of international affairs, and seeking to advance the practical knowledge of leaders in journalism and international relations. A central component of the project will be the establishment of an SSRC Working Group on Religion, Secularism, and International Affairs, designed to build better connections between scholars from different disciplines and to generate new intellectual momentum for interdisciplinary work. Better attention to religion in international affairs will immediately illuminate such core concerns as human rights, humanitarian interventions, justice and reconciliation, reparations, the role of "civil society," not least in regard to faith-based NGOs, and conflict, including international war, civil war, war and terrorism.