Michael A. Sells
Religion and War in Bosnia

Michael A. Sells is professor of comparative religion at Haverford College in Pennsylvania. He is the author of books on mystical language (in the Greek, Latin and Arabic traditions), Sufism and Arabic poetry. In his book "The Bridge Betrayed: Religion and Genocide in Bosnia" (to be published in August by University of California Press), he examines the religious ideology behind what has been labeled "ethnic cleansing," the way religious mythology was used to motivate and justify genocide, and the religious dimensions of the complicity in that genocide by the larger world community. His shorter essay on the same subject, "Bosnia: Some Religious Dimensions of Genocide," appeared in "Common Era: Best Religion Writings of 1994," edited by Stephen Scholl (White Cloud Press, 1995).

He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1982. Sells is president of the Community of Bosnia Foundation, which is dedicated to summoning the powers of humanity against all forms of racism and genocide. The foundation specifically works for a culturally pluralistic, multireligious Bosnia and Herzegovina. It attempts to help retrieve the cultural heritage of Bosnia and to offer support to Bosnian students. The foundation maintains a World Wide Web site at http://www.students.haverford.edu/vfilipov.