Four members of the Bates College faculty will lead a forum exploring the U.S. war with Iraq and relations between the two countries at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 7, in Skelton Lounge, Chase Hall, 56 Campus Avenue.

The event is open to the public at no charge.

The United States and Iraq: A Forum for the Bates College Community will be hosted by Professor James Richter and assistant professors Áslaug Ásgeirsdóttir and Matthew Nelson, all of the political science department, and Thomas Tracy, Phillips Professor of Religion.

Each of the four will speak briefly and then the discussion will be opened to comments and questions from the floor. Themes to be discussed include how the war on Iraq fits with “just war” theory, why intelligence failures are so common, how Iraq fits into the larger U.S. policy of preventive war and what steps lie ahead for the United States.

The forum is sponsored by the Office of the Dean of Faculty. For more information call 207-786-6195.

A member of the Bates faculty since 1987, Smedley specializes in atomic, molecular, optical and chemical physics. He graduated magna cum laude from Colby College in 1979 with membership in Phi Beta Kappa, and he received a doctoral degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Tracy, author of God, Action, and Embodiment (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1984) and editor of The God Who Acts: Philosophical and Theological Explorations (Penn State, 1995), specializes in the philosophy of religion, Western religious thought in the modern world and medical ethics. He received a bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College in 1971 and master’s and doctoral degrees from Yale University. Tracy joined the Bates faculty in 1976.

Established in 1987 by international investment manager John Marks Templeton, the John Templeton Foundation awards grants to encourage the discovery and use of scientific evidence to reveal knowledge about God and the natural laws that govern the universe.

Located midway between the coast and the mountains in south-central Maine, Bates is a 142-year-old undergraduate college of the liberal arts and sciences and is rated among the top 25 national liberal-arts colleges by U.S. News & World Report. Bates offers majors in 23 academic departments and seven interdisciplinary programs, and encourages independent study, research with faculty members and participation in off-campus programs. Bates does not require standardized-test results for admission.