Religious Nationalism

For scholars of both religion and nationalism, the term “religious nationalism” can be a problematic one in the sense that nationalism cannot be “religious” per se, since the aim of establishing and preserving the nation is essentially secular. “Religious nationalism” can refer to an amorphous body of different phenomena, most of which though fall into one of two categories: either nationalism where secular and religious aims correspond, or nationalism expressing religious versus secular aims. Both types are contingent on the particular relationship of the nation and of national identity with the religion in question, which, in turn, is contingent on a range of factors—a topic addressed in this entry. Subsequently, attention is paid to historical developments in the relationship between religion and nationalism, and, in a third section, variations in religious nationalism are explored.