Kelly James Clark
Kelly James Clark (born March 3, 1956) is an American philosopher noted for his work in the philosophy of religion, the philosophy of science, and the cognitive science of religion.[1] He is currently Senior Research Fellow at the Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Professor at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids Michigan.
For the American physician, see Kelly J. Clark.Interfaith work[edit]
Clark is an international advocate for interfaith cooperation, focusing on the Abrahamic religions. As of October 2016, he is project director for “Abrahamic Reflections on Science and Religion” a Templeton Foundation project which brings together 36 scholars from 14 countries to reconcile issues in the fields of science and religion. Scholars include Nidhal Guessoum, Rana Dajani, Nathan Aviezer, & Robert Koons, among others.[5][6][7]
Clark has lectured around the world and has served as director for international conferences on science and religion, interfaith cooperation, & Chinese philosophy. He has worked extensively with the John Templeton Foundation, organizing many interfaith symposiums, notably “Liberty and Tolerance in an Age of Religious Conflict” at Georgetown University on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.[8] That conference inspired a book of the same name in which fifteen influential practitioners of the Abrahamic religions argued for religious liberty and tolerance from their own faith traditions. Contributors included former United States president Jimmy Carter, Indonesia's first democratically elected president Abhurrahman Wahid, Rabbis for Human Rights co founder, Rabbi Arik Asherman, Rana Husseini, Nurit Peled-Elhanan, the philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff & theologian Miroslav Volf. The book earned praise from pioneers for peace such as Bishop Desmond Tutu.[9]
He also writes a regular column for the Huffington Post which confronts Islamophobia and antisemitism while also combating religious extremism.