by Jessica McCann

The metaphor of the "wall" between church and state has been, in a sense, a mantra by which Americans have lived for generations.

"It is sort of the fundamental creed that we all espouse, the notion of religion as a private phenomenon," said Linell Cady, a professor of religious studies at ASU. "We say it so frequently and unthinkingly that in many respects we imagine the entire world is structured in the same fashion, which, of course, it is not."

For many cultures, religion is a social experience that impacts all aspects of life. Strong religious identities and differences create the potential for -- perhaps even likelihood of -- inherent disagreements and violent conflict.

To enhance research and education of this social phenomenon, ASU has established a new Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict. Among the first of its kind in the nation, the center will explore the complex roles of religion in contemporary conflicts and examine the fundamental issues driving public debates.

"Religious-based conflict exists in areas as diverse as foreign policy, international law, teaching and learning in our schools, science and technology research and application, news coverage and political ideology," said ASU President Michael Crow, illustrating the potential breadth of the center's work.

Plans for the center began in late 2002, Cady was soon named as director, and several programs and initiatives are already under way this year. Faculty seminars, undergraduate research support, graduate fellowships, curriculum development, community forums and visiting professorships are a few of the programs that are expected to unfold in the next three years.

The role of religion in conflict has become especially prominent with recent world events. Violent clashes in the Middle East, India and Africa, as well as the terrorist attacks in the United States, have made us all painfully aware of the many serious conflicts between religions, as well as between religions and the secular state.

"One thing that certainly ought to be clear to everybody now is that religion is not an unambiguously good thing," said Jeff Murphy, Regents Professor of Law and Philosophy and affiliated faculty member in religious studies. "Religion sometimes produces absolutely wonderful and blessed results, but it sometimes also leads to some of the craziest and most dangerous conflict of which human beings are capable."

With the growing recognition of religion's enormous role in shaping public affairs around the world, the creation of the center is particularly relevant. It will bring together scholars from around the world and across the university in an interdisciplinary scholarly enterprise. While religious studies faculty will obviously play a key role, faculty from other academic areas such as education, philosophy, law, social science and communication will also contribute.

"Centers are designed to create cross-departmental and cross-college connections within the university, to bring together faculty expertise in various areas," said Cady. "There are faculty working on issues of religion across the university. If we can create the infrastructure to bring them together in new ways, then collectively the yield of knowledge will be much greater."

Enrollment in religion classes is surging across the United States, according to college and university officials. The trend is especially pronounced at ASU, which has the largest enrollment in religious studies of any school in the country.

The department of religious studies at ASU was established in 1979, and it has grown steadily through the years. Today, the university has approximately 4,400 students enrolled in more than 70 classes -- that's almost double the number found at other schools with prominent religious departments and a 50 percent increase in ASU's enrollment from just three years ago. There are about 200 students majoring or minoring in religious studies, and many students take the courses to fulfill general studies requirements. In fact, one-third of all ASU students choose to take a course in religious studies before they graduate.

The department currently ranks 14th nationally among 450 such undergraduate programs, according to the Gourman Report. The collective expertise of the 18 ranked faculty members is interdisciplinary, comprising doctorates in history of religions, area studies, literature, anthropology, history and theology. It spans the globe, and it covers numerous religious traditions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Native American traditions.

Without the strong foundation of faculty, curriculum and student interest in the religious studies program at ASU, creation of the new center would not have been possible. A seed grant from the ASU Office of Research and Economic Affairs provided funding for the initiative. The objective is to get the center's infrastructure and a few key programs off the ground during the first year, and then leverage that success to help secure additional funding outside the university through grants and private support.

By dedicating institutional resources to the center, the university is demonstrating its support of the programs being developed. Sociology Professor George Thomas pointed out that institutional support increases the likelihood faculty will obtain outside funding for research.

"Agencies that fund research typically look for the support of the institution," Thomas said. "I can certainly submit a grant proposal on my own; but this will provide a basis for my getting together with other scholars on campus and submitting a joint proposal, under the auspices of the center."

One of Thomas' current research projects examines the historic and current conflicts surrounding the teaching of religion in public schools -- a classic example of the type of scholarship the center would encourage.

"So much of the conflict and tension between particular religious groups and nation states tends to center on what the public schools are going to teach our children," Thomas explained. His latest project will document how different countries have attempted to resolve this conflict. From there Thomas will examine whether those solutions have been conducive to peaceful resolution or have, in fact, generated additional conflict.

Thomas' project reminds us that, while violent global clashes seem to dominate current events, religious-based conflict is not necessarily always violent. Stem cell research, evolution curriculum in public schools, human cloning -- all have led to heated debate on religious grounds, but rarely to violence, in the United States. "

Except for a few examples, such as the assassination of abortionists, religious conflict in America is a long way from becoming violent," Murphy said. "The emotions may be violent and the passions may be high, but we have too many checks-and-balances and Democratic institutions in place. Our whole history goes against the idea that we could have anything resembling religious warfare in America."

The influence of religion in public life can also generate significant internal conflict, as individuals struggle to determine religion's role in their own lives and professions. That conflict can, in turn, impact public policy and affairs.

In January 2003, for example, the Vatican released a new set of guidelines approved by Pope John Paul II for Catholic politicians in Europe and the United States. It stated that church opposition to abortion and euthanasia was not up for negotiation and instructed Catholic politicians to defend "the basic right to life from conception to natural death." Imagine the internal conflict a contemporary politician and devout Catholic must reconcile to meet such a directive from the church.

Journalists, too, face the challenge of addressing religion appropriately within their profession, as struggles based on religious differences grip our nation and the world more than ever before.

"One of the acknowledged weaknesses of the media is its inability to cover religion well, particularly domestically," said Joe Foote, director of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. "Reporting seems to be most prevalent when conflict occurs. That distorts reality, because religion certainly exists in normal times outside of conflict in a much larger way than it does during conflict."

In the late 1990s, ABC news anchor Peter Jennings became one of the first in the industry to vigorously and openly criticize the lack of media coverage on religion. He successfully lobbied his network to add a full-time religion reporter to the staff. Last year, the Interfaith Alliance Foundation honored Jennings for his coverage of the September 11 terrorist attacks, which the organization said showed "great courage in addressing the difficult issues related to religious diversity." Jennings' influence has begun to make an impact in the industry in general.

"I think we're seeing a period of renewed interest in religion and a greater willingness to cover it," Foote said. "Peter Jennings, on the national front, has been a major advocate of that."

When one begins to consider religion and conflict from a multidisciplinary vantage, it becomes clear just how broad and complex the issues can be. For example, under what conditions could religion actually serve as the basis for resolving conflict? Or, for that matter, how can one be entirely sure that a particular conflict is genuinely religion-based?

"Just because conflict is surrounded by the language of religion, doesn't mean that the basis of that conflict is primarily religious," Murphy noted. "A good example would be the conflict in Northern Ireland. There's no doubt that's partly religious in foundation, and a lot of the talk is Catholic versus Protestant, but a lot of the foundation of that conflict is economic, as well."

Many world leaders and economic analysts also have speculated that much of the current turmoil in the Middle East is more the result of economic strife than religious conflict. Such theories may be a subject of discussion at the center's inaugural conference this April, which will focus on Islam and the modern world. The keynote speaker will be Peter Bergen, a CNN journalist and author of Holy War, Inc., a book about Osama bin Laden and Islamic militant groups around the world.

"The conference will explore various voices of Islam in the modern world, from the more militant appropriation of the tradition to its more liberal currents," said Cady.

Much of the center's early work will likely focus on current global conflicts, with the philosophy that a better understanding of diverse religions is an important step in resolving religious conflict. For example, Cady noted, Americans' own model of church and state separation can hamper their understanding of other societies around the world where religion plays a more public role. That private model is essentially a Western export, and there is some sentiment in other cultures that it is an imposition from the West, a form of imperialism.

The fact that Muslim extremists orchestrated the terrorist attacks on September 11 further complicates the issue. As people struggle to understand, many are asking the same questions.

"Do these terrorist activities represent genuine Islam, or is this some kind of lunatic fringe group?" Murphy posed. "For all I know, given my own regrettable ignorance of Islam, these Islamic terrorists represent their religion no better than the Branch Dividians represented Christianity. That's certainly something this center could help us learn more about."

The current Muslim worldwide population is estimated to be 1.3 billion people and a very small fraction of those individuals are, in fact, terrorists. In an address at the Nixon Center late last year, CIA Director George Tenet pointed out that the Muslim world reaches from Morocco to Indonesia, the largest Muslim country. The next three largest Muslim populations are in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. "Our foes are literally 'the fringe of the fringe' in the Muslim world -- the small subset of radical Muslims who also happen to be violent and murderous," Tenet said

"That is so true," said Cady, "But it is also the case that there is some dissatisfaction in a number of Muslim societies with the Western model that positions religion as a minimalist factor in society and culture. So that raises large questions about the relationship between societies and what role religion should play."

And it is precisely these types of large questions that ASU's Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict will strive to someday answer.

Jessica McCann is a professional freelance writer based in Scottsdale, Ariz.