Affiliated Scholar
New York, New York

Dr. Joseph Loconte’s academic and professional interests are in the areas of religious freedom, religious human rights theory, and the relationship of religion, civil society and democracy. Dr. Loconte has been a frequent contributor to print and broadcast media. For 10 years he served as a monthly commentator for National Public Radio. In 2007 he hosted Britain and America, a weekly political program on the London-based 18 Doughty Street, the United Kingdom’s first internet-television program. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, The New Republic, The American Interest, National Review, and Books and Culture. His most recent book is The End of Illusions: Religious Leaders Confront Hitler’s Gathering Storm (Rowman & Littlefield, 2004). Dr. Loconte has testified before Congress on international human rights and served as a human rights expert for the 2005 Congressional Task Force on the United Nations, contributing to its final report, “American Interests and U.N. Reform.” He also has served as an advisor on human rights and U.N. reform to British MP Andrew Mitchell, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development. From 2001-2003, he was an informal advisor to the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Dr. Loconte is an associate professor of history at The King’s College in New York City, where he teaches courses on Western Civilization and U.S. Foreign Policy. In 2008, he was named a distinguished visiting professor at the School of Public Policy at Pepperdine University. Previously he served as a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He also held the first chair in religion as the William E. Simon Fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. Dr. Loconte graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He earned his master’s degree in Christian history and theology from Wheaton College and his doctor’s degree in history at King’s College, the University of London. A native of Brooklyn, NY, he resides in Fredrick, MD.