Hamed Abdel-Samad

Does the Enlightenment ideal of the separation of religion and state still have a future? What are the political consequences when authoritarian governments and religious movements pursue common interests? And how resilient are open, secular societies in an era when religious fundamentalism and political power are forming new alliances worldwide?
Hamed Abdel-Samad will discuss these questions this evening. Drawing on current developments in Russia, Israel, China, and Europe, the discussion will focus on the return of religious influence in politics, the threat to secular orders, and the question of what is at stake when the separation of religion and state erodes.

Political scientist and journalist Hamed Abdel-Samad has worked for UNESCO, as well as at the Chair of Islamic Studies in Erfurt and at the Institute for Jewish History and Culture in Munich.

In the series *And Now?*