International Institute for Religious Freedom

Deputy Director: Dr. Kyle Wisdom

The Deputy Director of the IIRF, Dr. Kyle Wisdom, PhD, is an alumnus of Middlesex University and the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. His research focus is on the interplay between religion and the state, with an emphasis on Indonesia where Kyle lived for over a decade.

He has contributed a chapter to the book God Needs No Defense: Reimagining Muslim-Christian Relations in the 21st Century, a book jointly published by the World Evangelical Alliance and Humanitarian Islam. The book launch in Washington, DC which coincided with the International Religious Freedom Summit, supported a key component of religious freedom on which Muslims and Evangelicals agree: the importance of being able to promote their respective faiths. He has also recently published a journal article titled “Indonesia’s Hospitable Democracy” with the International Journal of Asian Christianity about the experience of minority Christians in Indonesia and is a contributor to the International Journal of Religious Freedom.

In his role as Deputy Director, Dr. Wisdom is helping expand the Violent Incidents Database, a service of the IIRF to collect, record and analyze violations of religious freedom. The database is currently being updated for Nigeria, India and Latin America (more countries to follow). He is also the lead researcher on the project: Good Practices to Reduce, Resolve and Prevent Religious Conflict. This is an effort to research and publicize helpful practices being successfully used in many parts of the world. Dr. Wisdom has also been involved in interfaith projects and consulting with governments and policy makers.