Posted on January 14, 2011

Templeton Foundation Awards $2 Million to Georgetown University for Religious Freedom Project

Georgetown University has announced a $2 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation for a new project at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs.

Led by Berkley Center senior fellow Thomas Farr, who served as the first director of the U.S. State Department's Office of International Religious Freedom from 1999 to 2003, the Religious Freedom Project will explore religious liberty and its relationship to democracy and the struggle against extremism. Over three years, the project will sponsor a series of events, publications, courses, and policy consultations designed to generate and disseminate knowledge about religious freedom among scholars, policy experts, educators, and the general public.

Now a visiting associate professor at the School of Foreign Services, Farr will engage a team of leading international scholars in an examination of religious liberty as it relates to democracy, extremism, international diplomacy, and economic and social development. "At a moment when religious freedom is under siege around the world," said Farr, "the Religious Freedom Project will mobilize scholars, promote teaching, support policymakers, and inform a wider public about the value of religious liberty."