The attacks of September 11, 2001, engaged the United States and its allies in a war to combat Islamic terrorism and inspired a renewed sense of urgency to promote liberty abroad, particularly among nations whose totalitarian regimes gave rise to such violence. Michael Novak, in his latest work The Universal Hunger for Liberty: Why the Clash of Civilizations Is Not Inevitable (Basic Books, 2004), considers the notion of liberty as a concept that stirs Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike. He lays out the philosophical groundwork for a new conversation in which the West must engage with Islam regarding cultural, economic, and political liberty--the pursuit of which can aid the peaceful democratization of the Islamic third world.

Novak examines the two conflicting aims: on the one hand, Islamic extremism that seeks to destroy the "decadent West" and force humanity to submit to a perverted version of Islamic law akin to that practiced by Taliban in Afghanistan; and the stated task of the United States and its allies of "raising the sights of the nearly one billion persons concentrated in the fifty-six Islamic countries of the world so that they might live in greater dignity and freedom than ever before." In drawing the battle lines, he criticizes not only religious fundamentalism but the failings of secularism in the West as well, holding the latter responsible for "a decline in faith in science, reason, and progress."

Liberty, according to Novak, holds universal appeal, inspiring people of different faiths and no faith at all. He outlines four distinct virtues for free societies: respect for the regulative ideal of truth, cultural humility, the dignity of the individual, and human solidarity. These virtues do not seek to homogenize nations and faiths; rather, they provide an ideal to which all people can aspire while retaining their individuality. As Novak writes, the more virtuous a society, the freer that society grows, for "no democracy can long survive the moral decadence of its people, for the abdication of self-control on their part is an invitation to tyranny."

National institutions can reinforce virtue and promote liberty for all members of society. As Novak argues, good laws, when well executed, expand liberty and promote good habits among the citizenry. Increased wealth breeds philanthropic organizations that can provide "a potential source for cultural, moral, intellectual, and artistic renewal." Novak estimates that six billion people consider themselves religious and draw upon their faith as their principal moral foundation. In the economic sphere, corporate wrongdoing can generate public cynicism regarding a free society, giving fodder to those who seek to blame the "decadent West" for poverty and want to substitute a more totalitarian conflation of extreme religious fundamentalism and political will.

Drawing inspiration from St. Augustine's City of God, Novak envisions a City of Friendship, which he calls Caritapolis and which is guided by the realization that the gift of freedom bestowed on humanity by the Creator was designed to create friendship. "Maintaining a clear awareness of one's own differences in the context of civility and fraternity deepens the conversation" necessary to achieve dialogue and friendship among societies, and even among religions as disparate as Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.