Damir and Shadi talk about health security theater during this latest phase of the pandemic, before going on to discuss how technocratic approaches tend to worsen and exacerbate polarization in democratic societies. Also: can anyone make a moral case for democracy without recourse to God?

Required reading:

• The Islamic World Today: Issues and Perspectives (Brigham Young University)
• "The danger of bringing religious zeal to the political realm," by Shadi Hamid (Deseret News).
• "One in 5,000," by David Leonhardt (NYT).
• Public Opinion, by Walter Lippmann.
• "Limits to Democracy," by Roger Scruton (New Criterion).
• "Solutionism Is Not the Solution," by Damir Marusic (WoC)

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