Diplomats should have as keen a knowledge of religion as they do of economics or political science, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said on Nov. 20.

Speaking to the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, the academic association for theology and religion scholars, Secretary Albright said a knowledge of religion was essential in understanding the present international climate.

“In order to resolve some of the foreign-policy programs” facing the United States, “we have to bring God and religion into it,” she said, citing her own experiences in dealing with Northern Ireland and the Middle East.

“If Jerusalem were just an issue of real estate, we would have settled it a long time ago. But since all the parties believe God gave them that land, there’s another presence in the room.”

This did not mean that sectarian religious concerns should drive America’s foreign policy agenda, she added, but that government officials should be able to draw upon religious scholars to aid their deliberations.

She said the secretary of state “should have religious advisors” who served not at the negotiating table, but as “resource people” for the government.

Raised a Roman Catholic, Sec. Albright was received into The Episcopal Church as an adult. Her speech developed themes raised in her recently published book, The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God and World Affairs.

She urged future members of the Foreign Service corps to have training in world religions, noting “our diplomats are very knowledgeable in languages, history, culture but not necessarily religion.”

Sec. Albright called on the nation’s universities, divinity schools and seminaries to begin offering joint degrees in religion and international relations. “If we begin to think about having an interdisciplinary approach to this, I think we could do some good,” she said.

(The Rev.) George Conger