Category: Africa


Monica Toft on Religion, Terrorism, and Civil War

A week before the 10th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Prof. Monica Toft of Harvard University joins us to discuss what we have learned about religiously-motivated violence over the past decade. She discusses findings from her new book “God’s Century” on terrorism, informal violence, and civil war. Our conversation covers a wide range of geographic territory and faith traditions, touching upon the IRA in Ireland, Hindu nationalism in India, the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, as well as movements in the Arab Middle East.

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Daniel Philpott on Religious Resurgence & Democratization

Is the global resurgence in public religiosity over the past 40 years linked in any way to the increase in democratic governance over the same period of time? Prof. Dan Philpott (Notre Dame) covers the historical trends of church-state relations and discusses how changes in political theologies and the increasing independence of religious organizations have provided a fertile ground for political democratization in some corners of the world. We examine how and why some religious traditions have been involved in promoting democracy under authoritarian conditions. Our discussion turns toward some speculation about the future of the “Arab Spring” at the end of our interview. This is the first part of a discussion of the book “God’s Century: Resurgent Religion and Global Politics.”

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Nathan Brown on the Muslim Brotherhood

Prof. Nathan J. Brown of George Washington University and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace details the history and impact of the Muslim Brotherhood. We trace the origins of the Brotherhood back to the 1920s in Egypt through the regimes of Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat, and then through the Mubarak regime. Our discussion includes reflections on the role of the Muslim Brotherhood in the protests rocking Egypt in January and early February of 2011.

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Roger Finke on Religious Persecution

Roger Finke of Penn State University talks with Tony about the prevalence and reasons for religious persecution around the globe. We explore the connectcions between seemingly small violations of religious liberty and religious persecution. Prof. Finke further argues that even small violations of religious liberty can presage greater threats to a wider set of civil liberties. Our discussion covers all regions of the globe, with a focus on Japan, Nigeria, Iran, Russia, France and the United States.

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Jay Hein on the Faith-Based & Community Initiative

Jay Hein of Baylor’s ISR and the Sagamore Institute talks about his tenure running the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in the Bush Administration. Our discussion focuses on the history and workings of the Faith-Based Initiative, and the proper relationship between government and religious organizations.

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