“Keep religion and politics separate!” For decades, scholars assumed that less religion would lead to a more peaceful and unified form of politics. And yet, as religious identity recedes from American public life, the opposite appears to be the case. Our post-religious politics are growing more polarized, anxious, and unstable each day. Could a return to ancient religious wisdom and community be the key to healing what secular politics can’t fix?

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