Religion: A Missing Component of Professional Military Education PKSOI Paper | Page 25

ously may provide the best chance for success. Formal
Track One provides governmental initiatives to peace
development, Track II ensures non-governmental approaches to peacebuilding are present, and Track III
makes certain that grassroots and indigenous voices
are heard. This can be viewed as a counterpart activity.
Religious leaders are often able to operate where the
military cannot. Track One actors need to approach
religious actors as counterparts, not subordinates. A
recognition of religious leaders status as co-equal with
the state is required.
Eric Patterson posits that a “secular bias” permeates U.S. foreign policy.45 For Patterson, U.S. foreign
policy actors fall far short of developing a religious
literacy. This observation can also be applied to professional military officers, commissioned and noncommissioned. “There is almost no formal preparation for U.S. military officers in their professional
military education” regarding religion and religious
phenomena.46 Patterson calls on universities to invest
in developing religious literacy through research and
coursework. Military PME curricula planners would
do well to invest, as well.
Regardless of the increasing presence of religion
in modern conflict, “There is a paucity of religious
education available to prospective or current military commanders across the board. As a consequence,
U.S. military commanders in the field are essentially
‘winging it’.”47
Following the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, over
a 400-year period, the influence of religion in world
affairs declined. That decline appears to have been arrested, and we are viewing an increase in the impact
of religion on global concerns. Secularization is not re-

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