The Role of Religion in Today's Democratic Crises

“Jesus saves” banners at the January 6th insurrection. Evangelical elevation of President Trump as God’s elect. Claims of religious freedom used to justify discrimination. Scriptural “prooftexts” wielded to strip individuals of civil rights. Growing affection in religious communities for authoritarian models of government. Religion is playing significant roles in contemporary crises of democracy. How is it perceived in the public imagination and how can we as scholars advance public understanding of the stakes?Rachel Mikva, the Herman E. Schaalman Professor in Jewish Studies and Senior Faculty Fellow of the InterReligious Institute at Chicago Theological Seminary, moderates a discussion with Eddie Glaude, Robert Jones, and Katherine Stewart. About the PanelistsRobert Jones is the president and founder of Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI). He is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future (2023), as well as White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity. Jones writes regularly for The Atlantic, TIME, Religion News Service, and other outlets. Katherine Stewart has been covering the rise of the anti-democratic movement for over 16 years. Her latest book, Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy (Bloomsbury 2025), is an instant New York Times bestseller. Her previous book, The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism (Bloomsbury 2020), won First Place in the Nonfiction Books category from the Religion News Association, as well as a Morris B. Forkosch Best Book award.Eddie Glaude is a passionate educator, author, political commentator, and public intellectual who examines the complex dynamics of the American experience. His writings, including Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul and the New York Times bestseller Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own, take an exhaustive look at Black communities, the difficulties of race in the United States, and the challenges we face as a democracy. Glaude is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and is former president of the American Academy of Religion.

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