Douglas Johnston on Religion and Diplomacy, March 27

Douglas Johnston, founder and president of the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy, will give a talk, "Faith-Based Diplomacy in the Middle East and Pakistan," at 7 p.m., Friday, March 27, in Ferris Lounge, Seymour Union, Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois. The event is free and open to the public.

Johnston's organization has worked to include religion in mediating identity-based conflicts that exceed the reach of traditional diplomacy -- including Syria, Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan and Kashmir. Its activities include sending inter-religious mediation teams to conflict areas, and training both religious leaders and the general public about the process of peacemaking. Johnston is the author of two books -- "Religion: The Missing Dimension of Statecraft," and "Faith-based Diplomacy: Trumping Realpolitik."

Johnston has served as a planning officer in the U.S. President's Office of Emergency Preparedness, Director of Policy Planning and Management in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Prior to founding the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy in 2000, Johnston was executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Johnston received his bachelor's degree from the U.S. Naval Academy and served for ten years in the navy's submarine service. He earned master's and doctoral degrees at Harvard University, has taught international affairs and security at Harvard, and was the founder and first director of the Executive Program in National and International Security at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

Johnston's lecture is sponsored by the Caterpillar Lecture Series in Global Affairs and the Center for Global Studies at Knox College, through a grant from The Caterpillar Foundation of Peoria.

Founded in 1837, Knox is a national liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, with students from 47 states and 48 countries. Knox's 'Old Main' is a National Historic Landmark and the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.