The Charles Malik Institute

Throughout his career in academia and politics, Charles Malik served as a calm and charismatic leader in uncertain times. Confronting seasons of adversity, he turned to his faith for wisdom and courage. He integrated his Christian convictions with his public duties, engaging the political world without succumbing to its vices.

A century later, Malik remains a powerful example for young Christian leaders and political actors.

Charles Malik believed in universal values, such as freedom, human dignity, and the value of pluralism, that cut across time and permeated all civilizations and cultures. Malik saw these values manifest most clearly in the Greco-Roman, Judeo-Christian, and broader Western tradition.

Best known for his work on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, Malik authored the Declaration’s Preamble with its philosophical underpinnings and the text of Article 18 on religious freedom, freedom of conscience, and the freedom to change one’s religion.

When he offered a friendly critique of America and the West, Malik did so by constantly calling the West, should it stray, to return, and to remain faithful to its bedrock values.