CDTR: Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration, and Religion

The Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration, and Religion (CDTR), at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, conducts research and training on the interfaces of and tensions between religion, toleration, and democracy in the world.

Upcoming Events

Featured Events

Book Launch: Rethinking Religion and World Affairs, edited by Timothy Shah, Alfred Stepan, and Monica Toft
Tuesday, May 1, 12:30 - 2:30 pm
Georgetown University's Berkeley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs

On Tuesday, May 1, the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs will host the launch of Rethinking Religion and World Affairs, featuring a panel discussion with the volume’s editors, Timothy Samuel Shah, Alfred Stepan, and Monica Duffy Toft, and three of its contributors, Michael Barnett, Thomas Farr, and Katherine Marshall.

The volume, which emerged from the Social Science Research Council’s Luce Foundation-funded work on religion and international affairs, gathers a range of interdisciplinary essays that seek to question and remedy the problematic neglect of religion as a factor in international affairs.

More Upcoming Events

Religion, Legal Pluralism, and Human Rights: European and Transatlantic Perspectives
Wednesday, May 30 - Thursday, May 31, 2012
Columbia Global Center, Paris
Reid Hall, 4, Rue de Chevreuse

What is the proper place and role of religion in a constitutional democracy or international human rights regime? Does the presence of religious symbols and rituals in public and official spaces foster exclusion or inclusion for those who differ from the majority in their beliefs? Do demands for jurisdiction by religious authorities over personal law (marriage, divorce, sexual morals, rituals, etc.) expand or undermine the political equality and human rights of citizens? This workshop steps back to examine the European and transatlantic past and present with interdisciplinary and geographically diverse scholars and students to take up the issues from the perspective of constitutional, political, and legal theory.

For more information, and a complete listing of our upcoming events, please see the events page or call 212-854-7813.

CDTR Director Alfred Stepan has an article in the most recent issue of The Journal of Democracy, titled "Tunisia’s Transition and the Twin Tolerations." It is available here.

CDTR Announces the Winners of the 2012 PhD Seed Grant Competition

We are happy to announce the winners of our 2012 field research grants. Joseph Blankholm (PhD candidate, Religion) and Jared Conrad-Bradshaw (PhD candidate, Sociology).

In addition to these two awards, Dr. Jack Snyder's Religion and Human Rights pragmatism project has awarded travel grants to two exceptional PhD candidates working on projects related to religion and human rights. Huma Kidwai (Teachers College) and Alex Smolak (Social Work).

Funding for these grants is provided by the Henry R. Luce Initiative in Religion and International Affairs.

As part of the CDTR film series In The Names Of Gods, Colin Waugh and Eric Strauss were interviewed on WNYC's Brian Lehrer show on Wednesday, 3/21, discussing forgiveness in war-torn African nations.

Democracy, Islam, and Secularism in Turkey, edited by CDTR's Prof. Alfred Stepan and Ahmet T. Kuru, is reviewed favorably on the website of the Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network.

Full video of CDTR's February 3-4 conference, Mormonism and American Politics, is now available on the website of our sister center, The Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life. Watch it here.

Mohsin Mohi-Ud Din discusses Prof. Alfred Stepan's work on Muslim democracies like Indonesia in a piece in the Huffington Post.

Prof. Alfred Stepan's latest Project Syndicate piece, "Africa's Imperiled Democracy" (co-written with Columbia University fellow Etienne Smith) is being published around the globe, including The Korea Times and Gulf News.

Prof. Lila Abu-Lughod, primary investigator on CDTR project "Who's Afraid of Shari'a?" is interviewed on Jadaliyya about her new volume, SOCIALDIFFERENCE-ONLINE.

Philip Barlow (Utah State University) speaking during CDTR's February 3 conference, Mormonism and American Politics.

CDTR and IRCPL's conference Mormonism and American Politics is covered on the political blog of New York City public radio station WNYC.

CDTR Director Alfred Stepan has an opinion piece published online by Freedom House on the influence of the military on post-revolution politics in Egypt. Read it here.

CDTR director Alfred Stepan is cited in an article in Turkish newspaper Today's Zaman about the rise and success of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP). Turkey is the subject of much CDTR research and many events.

CDTR project "Who's Afraid of Shari'a" is honored to have papers from its spring 2011 conference, Religious Law, Local Practice, and Global Debates about Muslim Women’s Rights: The Politics of Consent included in the first volume of SocialDifference-online, published by the Center for the Critical Analysis of Social Difference. The volume is available for download here.

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For more information, send an email to cdtr@columbia.edu.