Religion: A Missing Component of Professional Military Education PKSOI Paper | Page 6

•  mbed education regarding religion and reliE
gious actors into PME core curricula.
•  esignate a visiting scholar position for the study
D
of religion at the Army War College.
•  ntegrate religion as a dimension of analysis
I
throughout all coursework.
•  stablish a permanent position at the PeaceE
keeping and Stability Operations Institute for a
scholar expert in the sub-field of religion as an
aspect of peacebuilding and stability.
The time is overdue for these changes. The dearth
of religious analysis in contemporary war-fighting
curriculum is a blind-spot that can quickly become a
strategic bias. As Prof. Matyok writes below, “The circumstances of modern conflict demand that military
leaders become knowledgeable of not only the divisive, but also the many positive, roles religion and religious actors can play in conflict prevention and resolution. Leaders will need a literacy that allows them to
engage religious leaders as counterparts in PSO, and
they will need to develop an ability to work with and
through religious institutions.”
Michael Spangler, Ph.D.
United States Department of State
Peacekeeping and Stability
Operations Institute
United States Army War College
Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania

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