Media Relations
News Releases
For Release Upon Receipt - June 6, 2003
Contact:
Tom Testa, 617/353-2240, ttesta@bu.edu
RELIGION AND DEMOCRACY ARE FOCUS OF SECOND ANNUAL SUMMER SCHOOL PROGRAM AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY
(Boston, Mass.) — The Institute on Religion and World Affairs (IRWA) at Boston University will conduct its second annual summer school program on Special Topics in Religion and World Affairs, from June 7-28, 2003. Co-sponsored by the School of Theology at Boston University, the theme of this year’s three-week program will be "Religion and Democracy.” The seminars will address topics such as global religious resurgence and its implications for democracy; religion and democracy in the Balkans and Russia; Islam and democracy in Turkey and Iran; religion and democratization in Asia; and religion in the practice of US domestic and foreign policy.
The instructors for the program are Research Associates of IRWA and are drawn from faculty at Boston University and other academic institutions as well as the public policy community in Washington, DC. Students come from a variety of professions, including the media, foreign service, religious institutions, and academe. The students also represent a diverse international constituency with participants from the United States, Southeastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
“The program is designed to appeal to professionals whose work engages them directly or indirectly with religion in its political, economic and cultural manifestations,” said Dr. Elizabeth Prodromou, Associate Director of IRWA. “The program is especially intended to provide a forum for individuals to consider the many ways in which religion affects the ideas and practice of public policy, whether in the context of education, the media, economic development, or foreign policy. The goal of the seminars is to expand public awareness of how religion affects the practical issues that have such an important effect on problems of peace and conflict in the contemporary international arena.”
The Institute on Religion and World Affairs at Boston University was established in October 2000 with an initial grant by The Pew Charitable Trusts. As one of ten Centers of Excellence for the Study of Religion supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts, IRWA is a research center whose mission is the promotion of academic research and public policy debates on the role of religion in contemporary international affairs.
— 30 —
