Religion: A Missing Component of Professional Military Education PKSOI Paper | Page 15

religion often receives a cursory nod, at best. When
discussed, religion is frequently reduced to one aspect
of culture and treated as a cultural phenomenon. Religion is a distinct dimension of analysis. While religion
can influence culture, and culture can influence religion, the two are separate.
Considering the acknowledgment by military
leadership that today’s complex conflicts require interagency, Whole-of-Society responses, why the marginalization of religion? Moreover, why is religion
viewed primarily as a driver of conflict, not as a partner in peacebuilding and conflict prevention?
I begin with several assumptions:
• that religion is present in the world and that it
will continue,
• U.S. foreign policy does not strategically engage religious organizations and actors as
peacebuilding partners, and
• military professionals are inadequately prepared and lack the religious literacy necessary
to advance U.S. Peace and Stability Operations
in religiously informed environments.
As Miroslav Volf observes, “given the continued
numerical growth of religions worldwide and their
increasingly public role, religions will remain a significant force in the years to come.”17 Just as there can
be wrong answers, there can be wrong questions. The
issue is not where is religion present; it is where is religion absent in a world that has never been secular?18
Simply put, religion is the X-factor.19
My purpose in putting this paper forward is to
contribute to the emerging body of research, and a
developing narrative within the military, regarding
the proper role of religion in U.S. foreign policy, and

7