This chapter sets the stage by giving an overview of the influence of religion on world politics in recent decades. It shows that world politics is increasingly marked by what could be called “prophetic politics” in which voices claiming transcendent authority are filling public spaces and winning key political contests. Some, like Al Qaeda, act through violence; others, like American evangelicals, act through elections; still others, like Hamas as well as some Indian Hindu revivalists, combine the two. But the overall trend is clear. Whether the field of battle is democratic elections or the more inchoate struggle for global public opinion, religious groups are increasingly competitive, putting secular movements on the defensive. The spread of democracy often enhances their reach. Democracy is giving the world’s peoples their voice, and many want to talk about God.
Keywords: religion, world politics, democracy, Islam, Hinduism, evangelicals, public opinion,