Abstract
Foggy Bottom is the area in Washington DC where many of the major US departments of state are situated. Shaun Casey, an academic theologian, recognized that there was a lamentable ignorance in those departments about the major role that religion plays in global affairs and persuaded his old friend John Kerry to set up a new Office of Religion and Global Affairs. This office existed for four years under the Obama administration before being killed off by Trump. It has not as yet been revived under President Biden.
Casey argues that one of the many failures of the misconceived invasion of Iraq was the lack of understanding by Bush and his government of the role of religion in the area or any knowledge of its complexities and tensions. He says that, up to that point, government was only concerned with religion under two headings: religious freedom and countering extremism. With his new department he sought to ensure that those making policy, as well as US embassies around the world, would be much better informed. He also sought to engage a range of religious actors in the process. This book tells the story of how he set about it and what he believed they achieved in the areas of diplomacy, refugees, political crises and climate change. It is told in a homely, anecdotal style, detailing some of the innumerable meetings that were necessary. The author suggests at the beginning that, because he came from a rather different background to many of those working in Foggy Bottom, he knew the power of religion and knew that it was more varied and complex than the average official liked to think. He also knew that religion, properly understood, could be a power for good. He nicely describes himself as ‘Male, pale and not quite Yale’. The admirable John Kerry, who contributes a foreword, is rightly praised for his belief in and commitment to this work. Without him, nothing would have happened.
The devil in the title refers to those forces in the world as a whole and in the US specifically who one way or another worked against what Casey was trying to achieve. With the closure of the office under Trump, it appears that the devil, though chased hard for four years, won this particular battle.
Although the style and amount of detail in this book will not thrill the average reader, Casey was surely exactly right in what he saw was lacking and what he tried to do. It raises the question as to whether the approach of governments in the UK is any better now than it was then under Bush in the USA. Also, whether the media, which influences so much government policy, would not also benefit from a much better grasp and more rigorous analysis of the role religion will continue to play in the world’s crises for the foreseeable future.