From the Founder
“Anyone can predict rain, but not everyone can build an ark.”
-- The Noah Principle
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Dr. Chris Seiple
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I have three degrees in international relations. None of them taught me about the role of religion in international affairs. To be fair, I never even thought to ask until the third degree. But one day in 1999, the following thought occurred to me: “I take my faith seriously and I know that religion has a positive role to play in the world; yet, religion is never addressed in the academic disciplines of international affairs…except as a catalyst to conflict.”
In the months following 9/11, the Institute for Global Engagement twice convened the “Noah Group,” a small group of Christians who came together to discuss how people of our faith could provide practical thought leadership for this new era where religion was necessarily a key factor. The Council on Faith & International Affairs (CFIA) emerged from these discussions, as did its flagship publication, The Review of Faith & International Affairs.
Although originally designed as an intra-Christian discussion across denominations and traditions, we soon realized that there was a tremendous void in the national and global discourse: namely, there was no organization, let alone journal of record, that encouraged all faiths and worldviews to actively and practically discuss the role of religion in global events. There had to be a place where deeply held differences could be discussed in a respectful and authentic manner. As a result, CFIA and The Review have been multi-faith since 2005.
While we have started CFIA, it does not belong to us. Please do send me your interests and insights, as well as your thoughts on how we can improve CFIA, The Review, and this website. (You can write to me at: founder@cfia.org). Many thanks for visiting with us!