Faith, Nationalism, and the Future of Liberal Democracy

"The four writers of Faith, Nationalism, and the Future of Liberal Democracy, all of them religious, are unusually frank in recognizing the possible affinities between their religions and a nationalist politics. At the same time, they are wonderfully (and thankfully) persuasive in providing an account of Protestantism, Catholicism, and Judaism that can stand alongside and support liberal democracy." Michael Walzer, author of The Paradox of Liberation "A timely, constructive, and empirically grounded exploration of the tensions among religion, identity, and liberal democracy in the United States and around the world." Robert D. Putnam, co-author of American Grace "Engaging and insightful, Faith, Nationalism, and the Future of Liberal Democracy helps us recognize the striking patterns of dangerous nationalisms that threaten to divide humanity and distort democracy around the globe. The authors' comparative perspective helps us see our own context in a clearer light, and the activist reading of history and the present ask us, as readers and people of faith, to take action." Jeannine Hill Fletcher, author of The Sin of White Supremacy This is a solid, timely book on a surprisingly neglected topic: the religious views and responses to the rise across the West of national populism. It succeeds at being both a scholarly and an activist and prescriptive look at the Christian and Jewish reactions to the populist surge in the twenty-first century. Jos Pedro Zquete, author of The Identitarians "It is vital for citizens of liberal democracies to understand the populist movements that are challenging democracy from within. By explaining how religion has been co-opted by nationalist populism, and by showing how religion can help provide an antidote to populism, this learned and insightful book helps us appreciate the dilemmas of contemporary democratic politics." Andrew Preston, author of Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith "Faith, Nationalism, and the Future of Liberal Democracy is an impassioned defense of the sane and sound forms of religion that engender and protect democracy, human rights, and love of neighbor. It is obviously a labor of love produced by those who have lived their lives in support of those values that will mend our broken world." Jim Winkler, president and general secretary, National Council of Churches "Faith, Nationalism, and the Future of Liberal Democracy . . . impart[s] a cogent, academic, and rich way of understanding how religion has been turned political weapon; it gives significant advice about what to do to address the problem . . . [and] explains how religious claims have been warped and understood to be more about belonging than believing." Foreword Reviews (starred review) "In this trenchant analysis, Elcott . . . teams up with other researchers to explore the ways religion impacts politics in the U.S. and Europe. . . . This is a startling reminder of the insidious potential of religious identity being overtaken by extremist political forces." Publishers Weekly "Elcott and his colleagues are to be commended for lobbying that religion, when properly practiced, exposes divisions between 'us' and 'them' not as appeals to purity but exercises in apostasy. Hope, not fear, thus paves the way forward." The Journal Gazette Elcott and his colleagues . . . offer a broad perspective on how religious faith has been misused in the development of national identities. In rich, complex prose, the authors provide examples of how religion has been used for both good and evil in the development of nation states. Indeed, the authors are stark in highlighting the ways in which religious belief has been weaponized to promote intolerance and disenfranchisement. The Arlington Catholic Herald "Elcott and his coauthors have come together across religious and cultural d

David Elcott is the Taub Professor of Practice in Public Service and Leadership at the Wagner School of Public Service at NYU and director of the Advocacy and Political Action specialization. C. Colt Anderson is the outgoing dean of the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education at Fordham University. Tobias Cremer is a Junior Research Fellow at Pembroke College, Oxford, and a recent Ph.D. from Cambridge. Volker Haarmann is the chair of the Department of Theology of the Protestant Church in the Rhineland.

Acknowledgments Introduction: Why We Write 1. Facing Liberal Democracys Challenge: Why We Highlight The Role Of Religious Identity In Populist Nationalist Movements 2. How To Understand The Populism Of Europe 3. The Assault On Liberal Democracy In The United States 4. A Catholic Response To The Errors Of Catholic Nationalism 5. The Post-Holocaust Protestant Church As The Defender Of Pluralistic Democracy 6. Each Human Being As An Image Of God: A Jewish Response To Religious Nationalism Epilogue: Religious Leadership, Civil Discourse, And Democracy The Authors Bibliography Notes