The Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi A. Annan, will be the keynote speaker at Trinity Institute's 35th National Conference at Trinity Church Wall Street in New York on 2 May.

His address on the conference theme, "Naming Evil," will be followed by two days of inter-faith dialogue in which representatives of the three Abrahamic faiths will discuss how each of their traditions - Islam, Judaism, and Christianity - explain the origins and persistence of evil in creation.

The other major speakers are Professor Jon Levenson of the Harvard Divinity School, who will represent the Jewish tradition, Professor Hossein Nasr of George Washington University, who will present the Muslim view and Joan Chittister, the Benedictine Sister, who will give the Christian perspective.

After each address, Michael Sandel of Harvard University will lead a group of interfaith participants in a Socratic dialogue, asking how these traditional understandings can help us to withstand the forces of evil in our own local community life. This year's conference is being presented jointly with The Chautauqua Institution.