Eric Patterson

Eric Patterson, Ph.D., is President & CEO of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington, DC and scholar-at-large and past dean of the Robertson School of Government at Regent University. His expertise, informed by time at the US Department of State and in the military, is on just war thinking, the nexus of religion and national security, and Christian Realism. He is the author or editor of 22 books, including Just American Wars, Politics in a Religious World, and Ending Wars Well.

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What Is Really Going on in Afghanistan: The Plight of Christians and Religious Minorities
What Is Really Going on in Afghanistan: The Plight of Christians and Religious Minorities

With the West on the run, increased activity by terrorists, and the Taliban inexorably exerting control across the country, we need to be aware of what is happening to real people, right now in Afghanistan.

Outbidding Cycle of Terrorist Violence in Afghanistan
Outbidding Cycle of Terrorist Violence in Afghanistan

Let’s take a look at the players, the victims, the outbidding cycle, and why ISIS-K is likely to ramp up the violence in Afghanistan. All of this suggests much more violence that will target Christians and Shia Muslims, as well as more oppression of highly (Western) educated people, women, and others who may not bend to the new social order.

Thinking about the Afghan Crisis: Vietnam, Cuba, or Iran?
Thinking about the Afghan Crisis: Vietnam, Cuba, or Iran?

With the debacle unfolding in Afghanistan, what is the schema that political leaders have in mind?

Biden and the Surrender of Victory in Afghanistan
Biden and the Surrender of Victory in Afghanistan

What would President Roosevelt say of President Joe Biden and his Democratic administration abandoning the Afghan people? Perhaps Biden, and many in the West, have turned away from winning because they have lost a sense that victory, even an unsatisfying partial victory, is politically and morally viable.

Power, Security, and Biden’s Withdrawal from Afghanistan
Power, Security, and Biden’s Withdrawal from Afghanistan

As the twentieth anniversary of 9/11 looms, President Joe Biden has rushed to pull US troops out of Afghanistan. What are we to make of all of this?

Why Nigeria Matters
Why Nigeria Matters

Human rights advocates, when looking at Nigeria’s north and central regions, fear an accelerating disintegration of Nigeria’s society and institutions. We all should be concerned that, if current trends are not arrested, Nigeria may implode, with global economic ramifications. A new wave of Nigerian displacement and emigration would rival those associated with Libya, Syria, and Iraq.

Foreign Policy ProvCast, Ep. 64 | The Patriotism of C.S. Lewis
Foreign Policy ProvCast, Ep. 65 | The Patriotism of C.S. Lewis

For the July 4th weekend, Eric Patterson and Mark Melton discuss what C.S. Lewis teaches Christians about patriotism and “love of home,” particularly in The Four Loves.

Honoring Old Glory on Flag Day
Honoring Old Glory on Flag Day

On June 14, Americans recognize Flag Day. It is not a holiday, but it is a day honoring the establishment of our nation’s most visible and moving symbol on June 14, 1777: the “Red, White, and Blue.”

What Memorial Day Should Remind Americans
What Memorial Day Should Remind Americans

Memorial Day should remind us of a debt that we, as citizens, owe to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, and it is a call to action to appropriately honor those who have served in the armed forces.

Religious Freedom and Democracy a Decade after the Arab Spring
Religious Freedom and Democracy a Decade after the Arab Spring

Although liberty movements swept the Middle East during the Arab Spring, an assessment of citizen’s rights and liberties in 2021 is disheartening. Little has changed.