Albright Essay

Submitted By cmoseley15
Words: 540
Pages: 3

Cody Moseley
English 102 1006
Albright Summary
2/9/15
Holy War or Religious Compromise In Madeleine Albright's text “Faith and Diplomacy” She discusses how religious beliefs have influenced post and modern day foreign policy. Albright breaks this concept into three key points. She starts off with her very own position on religion. Then, Albright ventures into three stories. She illustrates how the power of religion has affected the way “people think, feel and act” (36). Madeleine finalizes her thoughts by discussing how religious ideas are crucial in American policy. Albright dives straight into the concept of how we simply cannot have a world without religion. She begins with the idea that a world without religion would be “something not fit to be mentioned in polite company. I mean hell” (Albright 35). She uses past historical events to show how religion has been used as a scapegoat in blame for what people have done in the name of their God. Such as Stalin’s reign and the Holocaust. “It is easy to blame religion…for all our troubles, but that is to simple” (Albright 35). Albright concludes her introduction with the concept that religion plays a very crucial role in American and foreign policy. In “Faith and Diplomacy” Albright tells three stories that illustrate just how religion can influence the way people act. The first story takes place in Poland during the solidarity movement. Albright explains how Pope John Paul II had created a religious uprising to over throw communism. Albright states that “he used words carefully chosen to expose the void at the heart of the communist system” (36). She then begins to tell her second story about overcoming hate and learning how to forgive. The story is about a young Christian women named Mary who was brutalized by the Lebanese militia. They asked her to renounce her Christian faith, when she refused they nearly killed her. Albright says “people are willing to die – and kill – for their faith”(37). The third and final story takes place in Gulu Uganda. Where a holy war had ran rampage under the campaign of Joseph Kony. Kony created a rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army that terrorized