Understanding Khamenei: The Writings of Iran's Supreme Leader
Featuring:
Karim Sadjadpour, author,
Reading Khamenei: The Worldview of Iran’s Most Powerful Leader
Interviewed by:
Sally Quinn, The Washington Post
The PCR Project’s Mixed Blessings report recommends a broader public discussion of religion to improve U.S. government engagement with religion abroad. As the second event in a series devoted to improving the understanding of prominent religious figures around the world, we welcome Karim Sadjadpour, author of Reading Khamenei: The Worldview of Iran’s Most Powerful Leader. Interviewing Sadjadpour, we also welcome The Washington Post’s Sally Quinn, whose pioneering blog On Faith has promoted an online conversation on religious issues. Sadjadpour and Quinn will discuss the outlook of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, and how a better understanding of his positions is critical to engaging Iran effectively.
Washington Post journalist, author and Washington DC insider, Sally Quinn founded and co-moderates On Faith, a blog from the Washington Post and Newsweek. Co-moderated by Newsweek editor and bestselling author Jon Meacham and hosted by a panel of renowned religious scholars of all denominations, On Faith is the first worldwide, interactive discussion about religion and its impact on global life. While researching an article about religion in Washington prior to the 2000 presidential campaign, Quinn noticed that while religion had an enormous influence on worldwide politics, it was a taboo subject in our nation’s capital. Following 9/11, Quinn’s interest in religion grew and her passion to understand it from a personal and political perspective took on new urgency and focus. Over the past decade, Quinn has pursued a religious education with the same drive and rigor she once gave to politics. Leveraging her rolodex from 30 years as a columnist, she sought out spiritual mentorship from religious leaders and scholars such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Reverend Jim Anderson, Father Bryan Hehir and John Esposito. To gain emotional and spiritual perspective, she traveled to many of the world’s holy sites in Rome, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Tibet, Delhi, Cairo, Ethiopia and Istanbul, and began attending several religious services and ceremonies a week at churches, temples and mosques. Quinn has written four books: “We’re Going to Make You a Star,”about her short-lived experience as a co-anchor for “CBS Morning News”; “Regrets Only,”her first novel; “Happy Endings,”its sequel, and “The Party,”in which Quinn offers an insider’s look at Washington entertaining and a personal view of the value of friendship. She is currently working on a book about religion in Washington.
Karim Sadjadpour is an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He joined Carnegie after four years as the chief Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group based in Tehran and Washington, D.C. A leading researcher on Iran, Sadjadpour has conducted dozens of interviews with senior Iranian officials, and hundreds with Iranian intellectuals, clerics, dissidents, paramilitaries, businessmen, students, activists, and youth, among others. He is a regular contributor to BBC World TV and radio, CNN, National Public Radio, and PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and has written for the Economist, Washington Post, New York Times, International Herald Tribune, and New Republic. Frequently called upon to brief U.S. and EU officials about Middle Eastern affairs, he has testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, given lectures at Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford Universities, and has been the recipient of numerous academic awards, including a Fulbright scholarship. Sadjadpour was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in Davos, and is a board member of the Banu Foundation, an organization dedicated to assisting grass-roots organizations that are empowering women worldwide. He has lived in Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East.
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