CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- In these turbulent times, when the term "religion" is so often hijacked by the proponents of its very antithesis -- namely, conflict and strife -- an academic initiative to discuss religious topics in the framework of globalization feels like a refreshing breeze. This welcome event is scheduled to take place here in "the Rose of the North," the cultural capital of Thailand, in July. The project was conceived by the Institute for the Study of Religion and Culture at Payap University in Chiang Mai.

This institution was established a few years ago as a research center for scholars and others interested in the historical and comparative study of religion and culture. Drawing from the inspiration of some old Christian missionaries to northern Thailand, who were gifted with both proselyting zeal and deep respect for the indigenous streams of spirituality, it aims at furthering the understanding of animism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity.

In a sense, the mission of the institution can be grasped in one of the sentences pronounced at its inauguration ceremony by professor John Carman of the Harvard Divinity School: "The 'we' that we share does not obliterate our differences, but it may help us to see them in a new light, to recognize the universal claim on our humanity made by so much great religious teaching."