Washington National Cathedral

Public diplomacy is not a new concept when engaging nations and states in finding alternatives to traditional forms of diplomatic conversation. Often public diplomacy refers to exchanges between athletic teams, artists, musicians, and academics from nations in conflict or with severed formal diplomatic relations. Such public diplomacy can eventually lead to the normalization of formal diplomatic relations between countries and their representative diplomats.

What is a new concept in public diplomacy is the role that religion can and should play. Often in today’s troubled world, religion is the fault line that underlies conflicts between countries. This is especially true when studying state theocracies and countries where religion and politics find themselves intertwined. An excellent example can be found in countries where Islam is the dominant religion.

In the past, Americans studying to serve their country in the diplomatic corps were instructed not to take into consideration the role and influence that religion can and now does play in the national interests of another’s country, its politics and foreign policy. Madeline Albright has spoken quite plainly about this disconnect as she often reflects on her early training as a Foreign Service officer.

As the United States enters the twenty-first century it is confronted by a world where traditional foreign policy initiatives do not always work. An understanding of the role that religion can and often does play in international conflicts is an absolute necessity. This understanding must become one of the new tools used by diplomats entrusted with the international challenges their countries now face.

Unfortunately, most diplomats have little understanding of the role of religion in politics and even less knowledge about the scriptural theologies that drive religious traditions and behavior. A case in point was the inability of the United States government to understand the destabilization of Iraq by Sunni/Shiite conflicts following the overturning of the Baathist, Sunni regime by U.S. military forces.

It is now time for those professionals engaged in seeking diplomatic solutions to embrace religious public diplomacy as a formidable partner. It is critical for religious leaders who are highly respected within their own global religious traditions, who have a healthy access to the top leadership within their own countries and who are respected by the religious leadership of other countries to engage in theological conversations with their counterparts where formal diplomatic talks have either stalled, been suspended, or are non-existent. These conversations can have a direct impact on leveling the playing field for the countries they represent so that trained diplomats can then take over and begin negotiating to reduce tensions between countries.

Every major world religion and belief system has at its core the call for compassion. Every major world religion and belief system has at its core the search for a peace that passes all understanding. Every major world religion and belief system has an understanding that all holy texts, theology, and spiritual philosophy calls for reconciliation between those in dispute. Every major world religion and belief system understands that there can be no reconciliation without direct conversation. And no major world religion has the right to take another person’s life in the name of God.

Religious public diplomacy is an emerging and extraordinary new form of diplomatic initiative that must be understood, supported, and undertaken by nations and their governments currently. A new diplomatic partnership among religious leaders, traditional diplomats, and international leaders must be embraced if we can ever expect to lessen the conflicts that exist between nations and states that threaten the existence of an ever shrinking global community.