Harvard University’s Islam in the West Program is a project of the university’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies. It focuses on the relationship between Islam and democracy in North America. Among the goals is to compare the attitudes of Muslims in Europe and Muslims in America. It conducts seminars, student workshops and surveys of Muslims and produces publications.

The Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at New York University in New York City focuses on the study of the Middle East, especially on its economies, cultures and politics. Helga Tawil Souri is executive director.

The Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska in Omaha is a center of research on the Afghan region, peoples and cultures, including the country’s politics. Charley Reed is the center’s media contact.

The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University In Washington, D.C., describes itself as the only academic center in the U.S. that focuses only on the Arab world, from Morocco to the Persian Gulf. Osama Abi-Mershed is its director.

The Carolina-Duke-Emory Institute for the Study of Islam is a joint project of three southeastern universities. Its principal focus is on Islam overseas.

Charles W. Sasser is a former Green Beret and combat correspondent and author of the 2008 book God in the Foxhole, a collection of stories of members of the military who used their faith to persevere in combat. He lives in Chouteau, Okla.

David R. Segal is a sociology professor and director of the Center for Research on Military Organization at the University of Maryland. He co-authored a 2004 report (see Page 25) that includes religious preferences in the military.

Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff is a consultant on interfaith values and interreligious affairs, a retired Navy chaplain and officer, former special assistant for values and vision to the secretary and chief of staff of the Air Force, and a former national director of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee. He was part of the team that helped […]

Operation So Help Me God Project was founded by Brian Bohlman, a veteran and chaplain in the Air National Guard.