ABSTRACT
This chapter challenges the claim that democracy is fundamentally incompatible with religion, including Islam. It argues that such claims rest on a static understanding of religion that ignores historical change, internal diversity, and political context. Through a comparative historical analysis, the chapter shows that major religions have supported both democratic and anti-democratic political arrangements at different times. The Catholic Church, traditionally portrayed as a persistent obstacle to democracy, is shown to have played a crucial role in developing principles of representation and consent in the Middle Ages, even while opposing representative democracy and liberal rights in the 19th and early 20th century. Protestantism and Islam likewise contain doctrinal resources that have been mobilised for and against democracy and liberal rights. The chapter demonstrates that political actors, institutional incentives, and power struggles—not theological doctrines alone—determine whether religion aligns with or resists democracy. This means that no major religion is inherently incompatible with democracy as a political regime defined by free and competitive elections.
