United States foreign service officers receive little-to-no education about the religious factors of the countries where they are stationed, according to Maryann Cusimano Love, a professor of international affairs at the Catholic University of America and the Pentagon.
Love spoke in a presentation entitled, “Religion and Foreign Policy,” put together by the Penn Catholic Student Association and Fox Leadership yesterday at the Fels Institute.
The presentation began with Love citing a report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom naming Iraq and China as two of 13 of the worst violators.
“The United States turned blinders to the importance of religion in Iraq,” she said.
In her PowerPoint she cited a quote from Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense from 2001 until 2005, which said, “Iraq will become a place of tolerance and freedom in the Muslim world.”
Love also stressed her belief that governments are unwilling to work with religious organizations even when it would have been beneficial.
She cited two examples where religious non-governmental organizations asked the United States government and other countries to help out with debt forgiveness in poor countries and to sign a landmine ban. In both cases, she said, governments were uninterested.
Love also explained that governments are hesitant to work with religious organizations because there are a number of myths surrounding them.
“Some people believe that the United States is prohibited from considering or interacting with religious factors or actors in international affairs,” she said, referring to the separation of church and state.
Some of the other myths she cited were that officials think religion is unimportant in foreign affairs and that religion can actually be harmful.
She also pointed to the Catholic Peacebuilding Network, which has tried to prevent violence in the Congo, as an example of a religious organization that has done good work in foreign affairs.
“Sometimes religious organizations can be much more effective in delivering aid because they are trusted more,” she said.
John DiIulio, a member of the Penn Catholic Student Association and College sophomore, was extremely happy with the event.
“The turnout was great and I thought the students were engaged in what she had to say,” he said.
