This session, hosted at the Muslim Children Education and Civic Center (MCECC), explored the intersection of “religion” and “politics” by examining the concept of religious nationalism. Panelists Miriam Shoshanna Sobre, Mel Webb, and Sajida Jalalzai reflected on the significance of Palestine in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim narratives, practices, and self-understandings, while sharing personal stories about their own experiences engaging with, aligning with, and challenging such traditions in the context of Israel and Palestine. Speakers discussed the concept of religious nationalism and its reliance on processes of "othering" to enforce the boundaries of the nation. Speakers examined Zionism, or support for the creation of a Jewish state, as an example of religious nationalism supported by large segments of global Jewish and Christian populations from the nineteenth-century until today. 

After the panel, facilitators led participants in small group discussions to reflect on their own understandings and experiences of religious nationalism. These conversations emphasized the need to abandon overly simplistic views of religious or cultural differences as the root of political conflict, and instead consider the role of historical and geopolitical dynamics in fostering interpretations of religion that perpetuate division, marginalization, and violence.