Abstract

Faith-based organisations (FBOs) ¹ are now widely seen as important actors in development in the developing world. Such awareness has gradually grown over time. There was no one single event to galvanise increased awareness; there was no ‘9/11 moment’ in relation to faith’s role in development, analogous to the impact of the murderous attack on 11 September 2001, by a transnational religious extremist organisation – al Qaeda – against the world’s most conventionally powerful country, the USA. This event catapulted ‘Islamist extremism’ into the full glare of global publicity and has set the stage ever since for an overall understanding of ‘religion in international relations’. ²