The authors of Can Religion Save Democracy? How More Faith—Not Less—Can Heal Our Public Life discuss how citizens can navigate a new world of deep polarization and mistrust.
October 12, 2026 11:00 am
The authors of Can Religion Save Democracy? How More Faith—Not Less—Can Heal Our Public Life discuss how citizens can navigate a new world of deep polarization and mistrust. Join us for a conversation with:
Matthew Kaemingk (PhD, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) is senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, professor of public theology at Theological University Utrecht, and founder of the Worship for Workers Initiative. He is the author of Christian Hospitality and Muslim Immigration in an Age of Fear and the coauthor of Leading Worship for Workers and Work and Worship: Reconnecting Our Labor and Liturgy.
Shadi Hamid (PhD, Oxford University) is a columnist at The Washington Post and a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. He is the author of The Problem of Democracy and Islamic Exceptionalism.
Hosted by Amar D. Peterman, civic strategies specialist with Interfaith America and author of Becoming Neighbors: The Common Good Made Local.
(Ph.D., Oxford University)
(Ph.D., Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
(M.Div., Princeton Theological Seminary; Ph.D. Student, The University of Chicago)
“Keep religion and politics separate!” For decades, scholars and public intellectuals assumed that less religion would lead to a more peaceful and unified form of politics. The evidence suggests otherwise. As religion has receded from public life, our politics have grown more polarized, anxious, and unstable.
In Can Religion Save Democracy?, two friends and colleagues–a Christian theologian and a Muslim political scientist–make a bold case: If American democracy is going to survive, it will require more religion, not less. Drawing on wisdom from their respective religious traditions, they explore
This is not a call for theocracy or religious authoritarianism. It’s a hopeful, clear-eyed vision showing how religious faith offers vital tools to renew the soul of democracy in a divided nation.
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October 12, 2026 11 AM
Two friends and colleagues–a Christian theologian and a Muslim political scientist–argue a bold case.
