An International Perspective By Christopher Cooke

Religious Extremism

What’s unique about religious extremism as a topic

• Religious extremism is not merely an aspect of the political, but also the social, psychological, economic, and personal

• There is no one unifying consensuses• Religious Extremism has no boundaries and

are constantly evolving in both ideology and recruitment tactics

Possible Subtopics?

• Cults

Cults- Possible SpeakersJanja Lalich. PH.D.

cultresearch.org

• JANJA LALICH, PH.D. is a researcher, author, and educator specializing in cults and extremist groups, with a particular focus on charismatic relationships, political and other social movements, ideology and social control, and issues of gender and sexuality. She has been a consultant to educational, mental health, business, media, and legal professionals, as well as having worked with current members, former members, and families of members of controversial groups.

Sam Harris

http://www.samharris.org• Sam Harris is the author of the New York Times bestsellers, The End of

Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation. The End of Faith won the 2005 PEN Award for Nonfiction.

Mr. Harris' writing has been published in over fifteen languages. He and his work have been discussed in Newsweek, TIME, The New York Times, Scientific American, Nature, Rolling Stone, and many other journals. His writing has appeared in Newsweek, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Times (London), The Boston Globe, The Atlantic, The Annals of Neurology, and elsewhere.

Mr. Harris is a Co-Founder and CEO of Project Reason, a nonprofit foundation devoted to spreading scientific knowledge and secular values in society. He received a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA.

Martha C Nussbaum

Sex and Social Justice and Upheavals of Thought.

• Professor Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, appointed in the Philosophy Department, Law School and Divinity School. She is an Associate in the Classics Department and the Political Science Department, a Member of the Committee on Southern Asian Studies, and a Board Member of the Human Rights Program. She is the founder and Coordinator of the Center for Comparative Constitutionalism.

John L. Esposito

http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/jle2/bio.html

• A consultant to the Department of State as well as corporations, universities, and the media worldwide, Esposito specializes in Islam, political Islam, and the impact of Islamic movements from North Africa to Southeast Asia. He has served as President of the Middle East Studies Association of North America and the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies, Vice Chair of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy and is currently a member of the World Economic Forum's Council of 100 Leaders and President of the Executive Scientific Committee for the Maison de la Mediterranee's 2005-2010 project, "The Mediterranean, Europe and Islam: Actors in Dialogue.".

Some Suggestions

• Radical Islam-Iran, Iraq, Sudan, ect• Religious Terrorism-Dr. Jefferis• Christian Extremism• Women and Gays-minorities in the crossfire• The Religious history of Colonization• Atheist-The Pendulum Swings Both Ways• Religion in Politics/Theocracies• The Psychological Profile of Extremist• The Anthropological assignment of Religion and the

Body-Dr. Aho

The END