Religious Nationalism Goes Global with Mark David Hall

Mark David Hall is back on the podcast to talk about Christian nationalism, only this time, we’re talking about the broader topic of religious nationalism globally. While Christian nationalism has received quite a bit of (inflated) attention in the US, there has been a noticeable trend towards religious nationalism around the world. It was a trend I picked up on and wrote about in a blog post (see below) ten years ago, but Mark and I discuss this trend now because earlier this year, Pew Research published a study on religious nationalism and how America and Christian nationalism measures up with other countries and their dominant religions. The Pew study validates a major claim Mark has been writing and speaking on, namely, that the concerns about Christian nationalism in America are indeed overblown. However, the study does much more than by giving us a window into something I only hinted at in my doctoral dissertation research: political culture influences state action. Religious nationalisms of all stripes and inherently political ideologies that seek to define and shape political culture a particular way, which, proportional to their population size in a country could have large effects on domestic and international politics. This was a groundbreaking and important study by Pew, and well worth taking the time to read and digest.

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