In Faith, Nationalism, and the Future of Liberal Democracy (2021), co-authors David Elcott, C. Colt Anderson, Tobias Cremer, and Volker Haarmann explore how religious identity is used to foster the exclusion of individuals and communities from citizenship, political representation, and a role in determining public policy. To lay the groundwork for a religious response, the book offers chapters showing how Catholicism, Protestantism, and Judaism can nourish liberal democracy.
In this TPNRD webinar David Elcott, C. Colt Anderson, and Tobias Cremer joined Jocelyne Cesari, Berkley Center senior fellow, and Judd Birdsall, Religion & Diplomacy editor, to discuss the book and ways in which religious identity is weaponized to fuel populist revolts against a political, social, and economic order that values democracy in a global and strikingly diverse world. The panelists also discussed ways that people of faith can promote foundational support for the institutions and values of the democratic enterprise from within their own religious traditions and stand against the hostility and cruelty that historically have resulted when religious zealotry and state power combine.