Between the Lines: Religicide

By :  Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary Posted On Oct 30, 2023 / 5784 | Author Conversations: Between the Lines Library Programs

RELIGICIDE: CONFRONTING THE ROOTS OF ANTI-RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE

Part of Between the Lines: Author Conversations from The Library of JTS

Georgette Bennett speaks about her book, Religicide, coauthored with Jerry White, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, which documents the global persecutions of people for their faiths, including the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust, the Bosnian war, and other human rights catastrophes. It amplifies the voices of survivors and offers a blueprint for action, calling on government, business, civil society, and religious leaders to join in a global campaign to protect religious minorities.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Georgette Bennett is an award-winning sociologist, widely published author, popular lecturer, and former broadcast journalist. An innovative and entrepreneurial leader, she is an active philanthropist focusing on conflict resolution and intergroup relations. In 2013, Bennett founded the Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees (MFA) and has since worked to raise awareness and mobilize over $400 million of humanitarian aid on behalf of more than three million Syrian war victims. In 1992, she founded the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding. She is also a co-founder of the Global Covenant of Religions/Global Covenant Partners, which focuses on de-legitimizing the use of religion to justify violence and extremism.

Bennett served in the US State Department Religion and Foreign Policy initiative’s working group on conflict mitigation, tasked with developing recommendations for the US Secretary of State on countering religion-based violence. She was awarded the AARP Purpose Prize for her work with MFA and recently received an Extraordinary Women Award from the 92nd Street Y.  In 2021, Bennett was included in Forbes 50 Over 50 Women of Impact list, and cited, along with Condoleezza Rice and Susan Rice as women who helped shape the course of modern American foreign policy and human rights. Her book, Thou Shalt Not Stand Idly By: How One Woman Confronted the Greatest Humanitarian Conflict of Our Time was published in late 2021. 

Cosponsored by the JTS Library and the Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue