Thomas Farr is co-founder and President Emeritus of the Religious Freedom Institute in Washington, D.C. A PhD in History from the University of North Carolina, Dr. Farr served for 28 years in the U.S. Army and Foreign Service. In 1999 he became the first Director of the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom. After his Diplomatic Service, Dr. Farr taught for twelve years as Associate Professor of Religion and International Affairs at Georgetown University, where he also founded Georgetown’s Religious Freedom Project.
Today, Farr is a senior scholar at Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion, a senior fellow of the Witherspoon Institute, and a consultant to the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference. His many published works include World of Faith and Freedom: Why International Religious Liberty is Vital to American National Security (Oxford University Press, 2008), a book that has shaped U.S. law and foreign policy. He has testified before Congress on the subject of religious freedom, both international and domestic.
Farr has been widely recognized for his defense of religious freedom for all, including the Defender of Religious Freedom Award, Religious Freedom Institute, 2024, and the Edwin Meese III Originalism and Religious Liberty Award, Alliance Defending Freedom, 2024.
