Investment aims to broaden students’ understanding of religion’s role in world affairs
Students present their final projects in ASU's Islam and Politics course. The class is funded through the Leard Family Initiative on Religion and Global Affairs. Courtesy photo
Last spring, over lunch at a neighborhood cafe in Cave Creek, Arizona, Barb and Tom Leard shared stories of faith, family and experiences that shaped them. The conversation ranged from religion and diplomacy to service and students.
"I so believe in the goodness of everybody and in the potential of people," Barb said.
That perspective helped inspire the Leards to create the Leard Family Initiative on Religion and Global Affairs at Arizona State University, giving students and the public opportunities to better understand the religious beliefs of the people they live and work alongside.
At the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, they found a team uniquely equipped to bring that vision to life. Through the initiative, the center supports interdisciplinary courses and public programs that explore how religion interacts with economic, political, social and cultural forces to shape public decisions and opportunities for cooperation.
What inspired the Leards’ vision
Barb explained that her faith and early awareness of global politics informed her desire to create the initiative. Watching televised news coverage of the Soviet invasion of Hungary as a child galvanized her opposition to war and her unease about the consequences of one power imposing itself on another.
Her Catholic upbringing has been central to her life, as has her enthusiasm for engaging with practices and communities beyond her own. Exposure to Buddhism and other traditions expanded her worldview.
"There’s a broader world out there," she said. "It’s not stuck on one thought process."
While stationed in Thailand during the Vietnam War, Tom lived and traveled in a predominantly Buddhist country. He saw how local customs guided responses to conflict.
Barb observed, "We come in, and we think we know all the answers."
Tom’s conviction that "religion and diplomacy, wherever you’re going to operate in the world, have to go together" made the center’s interdisciplinary approach a natural fit.
Initially, the Leards proposed supporting individual students studying abroad, but discussions with the center revealed how developing courses could benefit more students.
"We came to realize it was too narrow," Barb said. "You just didn’t know what would come of it with one student. The possibility that it could be broader — that was much more meaningful."
Learning in the classroom and beyond
Initiative-funded courses, including one titled Religious Freedom, Islam and Politics and another titled Religion and Globalization, are cross-listed between the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies and the School of Politics and Global Studies. This collaboration connects the humanities’ attention to histories, values and beliefs with the social sciences’ analysis of human behavior, political institutions and global relationships.
Public launch event
Witnessing Atrocity: Religion, Storytelling and Reconciliation
Award-winning author Philip Gourevitch will explore religion’s role in genocide and reconciliation, and how storytelling can deepen empathy and shape our response to conflict today.
Thursday, Nov. 5
4:30–6 p.m.
Turquoise Ballroom
Memorial Union, room 220
Free and open to all
"ASU has tremendous intellectual strengths in the area of religion and global affairs," says John Carlson, the center’s director. "This unique partnership will ensure that our horizons of inquiry — for students and members of the community alike — will extend well beyond the water’s edge."
Evan Berry, associate professor of environmental humanities, says the initiative gave him time to develop a new course focused on religious freedom. Now a permanent catalog offering, the class examines religion’s influence on American governance and governments’ treatment of religion in an international context.
Assistant Professor Han Hsien Liew said students in his Islam and Politics course "read writings produced by Muslim authors in English translation and present interesting analyses of these texts in their weekly discussion board posts."
The initiative’s reach will begin to extend beyond the classroom at its public launch event, "Witnessing Atrocity: Religion, Storytelling and Reconciliation." Journalist Philip Gourevitch will discuss religion’s role in genocide and reconciliation, and how storytelling can deepen empathy and shape our response to conflict today.
The Leards are optimistic about what the initiative can accomplish.
"We’re not doing it trying to get our name on things," Barb said.
Tom added, "We expect this initiative to produce results."
Those results are already evident in students like Aleena Haugen, a center undergraduate research fellow. Taking Berry’s course helped her understand that religious freedom "defines the very way we think about legal systems and those in control."
She said the course gives students "the tools to challenge other ideas that come our way," making it "essential for all majors."
What matters most to the Leards is what students carry forward.
Tom hopes students gain "a real appreciation for the belief systems of the people they work with" and respect for the histories and heritage of others.
"I hope they have understanding that there’s more than one way to think about something," Barb said.
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