Politicians across the globe are using religious nationalism as a tool for power and at times repression. India, the world’s largest democracy, is struggling with a nationalist insurgence, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi defining the Hindu religion as conjoined with all Indian culture, violently repressing Muslims in the process. Hungary’s prime minister, Victor Orbán, has called to secure his nation’s borders from mainly Muslim migrants “to keep Europe Christian.” In the United States, myriad elected officials are drawing support from the Christian nationalist movement, which promotes the idea that the nation was founded by and for conservative Christians. 

Featuring IOP Pritzker Fellow and investigative journalist Rana Ayyub, investigative journalist Katherine Stewart, who is the author of "The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism," and Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, professor of Religious Studies and Political Science and Crown Chair in Middle East Studies at Northwestern University.

Moderated by IOP executive director Zeenat Rahman.

Cosponsored by the Martin Marty Center for the Public Understanding of Religion.