Rev. Prof. Dr. James T. Christie and Dr. Sherrie M. Steiner recently published a book with the title “Religious Soft Diplomacy and the United Nations – Religious Engagement as Loyal Opposition”. The engagement of religious diplomacy within the United Nations systems has become increasingly important for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Launch will take place in New York on 24 June 2021 |from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm EST. Two members of Religions for Peace Australia have made contributions to this book.
Background Information
The co-editors Rev. Prof. Dr. James T. Christie and Dr. Sherrie M. Steiner recently published a book with the title “Religious Soft Diplomacy and the United Nations – Religious Engagement as Loyal Opposition”. The engagement of religious diplomacy within the United Nations systems has become increasingly important for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This book argues that effective religious diplomacy must reflect the great diversity of religious and spiritual expressions within human communities, and that this can best be achieved through a worldview shift within the United Nations systems.
Religious engagement in the United Nations systems has been understandably constrained by limited and formal organizational structures and conventions.
However, the existing patterns of engagement mitigate against the very goals they seek to achieve. Contributing authors demonstrate how communities become stronger when marginalized minority voices are included in public discourse. The editors further argue that governance has a responsibility to ensure a safe environment for this interaction and propose that the United Nations adopt the posture of “loyal opposition”, that is inherent in parliamentary democracies, to serve as a guideline for expanded religious engagement. The contributors advance this proposal with illustrations from multiple contexts that address a diverse array of social problems from perspectives rooted in theory and practice.
To celebrate the publication and discuss the findings of the book, a conversation between editors and contributors will be hosted on 24 June at 10:00 – 12:00 pm EST.
Objectives
- Highlight the efforts of the contributors and the editors of this timely book
- Support efforts to better involve religious leaders in diplomatic discussions
- Strengthen multi-religious collaboration within the formal structures of the UN systems
- Showcase the impact of multi-religious collaboration in the international diplomatic arena
- Demonstrate the engagement strategies highlighted in this volume
Religious Soft Diplomacy & the United Nations:
Editors and Contributors
Azza Karam, Contributor
Azza Karam (PhD) serves as Secretary General of Religions for PeaceInternational. Prior to this, she served in diverse positions in the United Nations: as Chair of the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Religion; Senior Advisor on Culture at the United Nations Population Fund; Lead Facilitator for the United Nations Strategic Learning Exchanges on Religion-Development-Diplomacy, Coordinator of the UN’s Global Interfaith Networks of 600 faith-based organizations; executive secretary for the UN multi-Faith Advisory Council; and Coordinator of UNDP’s Arab Human Development Reports (2004-2007). She has published scholarly works, since 1993, in several languages, on political Islam, Gender, conflict and Peacemaking, Education, and Transnational Religious dynamics. She is also a Professor of Religion and Development at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Adis Duderija, Contributor
Adis Duderija (PhD) is Senior Lecturer in the Study of Islam and Society and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Interfaith and Cultural Dialogue at Griffith University in Australia. Dr. Duderija has numerous publications on the theory of progressive Islam, Islamic intellectual history, theory of interfaith dialogue, comparative theology, gender issues in Islam and contemporary manifestations of Islam in the West. Dr. Duderija is also an activist minded scholar with a long history of involvement in interfaith and social justice activism and is a co-founder of the Network of Spiritual Progressives – Australia.
Brian Adams, Contributor
Brian J Adams (PhD) is the Director of the Centre for Interfaith & Cultural Dialogue at Griffith University. As a former Rotary Peace Fellow, Brian is primarily focused on promoting respect and understanding across cultural, religious and organisational boundaries. Brian’s 20-plus years of work in Africa, Europe, North America and the Asia–Pacific bring a compelling international perspective to the Centre. Brian is a founder of the G20 Interfaith Forum, drawing on interfaith insight and experience in developing recommendations on issues relevant to the G20 Leaders’ Summit. He is co-founder of the Commonwealth Dialogue Conference which gathers religious, academic, civil society, political and professional leaders from across the Commonwealth to invigorate leadership to meet the challenges of our day.
Registration:
24 June 2021 | 10:00 am – 12:00 pm EST | Register here
