Religion and Public Policy: Human Rights, Conflict, and Ethics

This book pivots around two principal concerns in the modern world: the nature and practice of human rights in relation to religion, and the role of religion in perennial issues of war and peace. Taken collectively, the chapters articulate a vision for achieving a liberal peace and a just society firmly grounded in respect for human rights, while working in tandem with the constructive roles that religious ideas, leaders, and institutions can play even amid cultural difference. Topics covered include: the status and justification of human rights; the meaning and significance of religious liberty; whether human rights protections ought to be extended to other species; how the comparative study of religious ethics ought to proceed; the nature, limits, and future development of just war thinking; the role of religion and human rights in conflict resolution, diplomacy, and peace-building; and the tensions raised by religious involvement in public policy and state institutional practices. Featuring a group of distinguished contributors, this is a multifaceted and original exploration of the aforementioned themes.

Sumner B. Twiss is the Distinguished Professor of Human Rights, Ethics, and Religion at Florida State University, where he holds a joint appointment between the Department of Religion and the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights. He is also Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at Brown University, where he served on the faculty for thirty years and as department chair for twelve years. He is the co-author and co-editor of seven books, and the author of more than seventy published articles in the areas of comparative religious ethics, biomedical ethics, philosophy of religion, global ethics, intercultural human rights, and the comparative study of just war.

Marian Gh. Simion is a political scientist and Orthodox theologian, currently appointed as Postdoctoral Fellow and Field Education Supervisor at Harvard Divinity School, and a past instructor in the areas of religion, government, and diplomacy at Harvard Extension School. He holds a Master of Theological Studies from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, and a PhD in Public and International Affairs from Northeastern University, where his academic advisor was Governor Michael S. Dukakis. His general research focuses on international security, comparative politics, political theology, religious phenomenology, Islamic jurisprudence, theory of religion, collective violence, and Orthodox Christianity.

Rodney L. Petersen is a social historian and Protestant theologian. Dr Petersen served as executive director of the Boston Theological Institute (BTI), from 1990 until 2014, becoming director of Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries and of the Lord's Day Alliance in the US in 2014. He is a research associate at the Center for Global Christianity and Mission at Boston University School of Theology. Prior to coming to the BTI, he taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Webster University in Geneva, where he also worked with churches in France and Romania.