This lecture discusses the adequacies and inadequacies of the separation of church and state from both Islamic and Western perspectives. In the wake of the September terrorist attack in the U.S., people have been struggling to understand the deeper issues in the violent collision between two adjacent cultures. What is required, this lecture argues, is a sustained critical dialogue about faith, history, values and public policy, in order to address this complex issues in fruitful ways.

Lamin Sanneh is D. Willis James Professor of Missions and World Christianity at Yale Divinity School and Professor of History at Yale University. His many books include The Crown and the Turban: Muslims and West African Pluralism.