The goal of my paper is twofold: to analyze the influence of religion in two democratic countries (the U.S. and Israel) and its tie to the waning of the welfare state, and to explore the tie between these trends and the growing problems of political legitimacy and concommitant political participation. My claim is that there is a strong, empirically grounded connection between poverty and religious belief in democratic countries, resulting in part from religious groups filling the void left by the dismembering of welfare services. Furthermore, the strength of religious hierarchies and religious NGOs based on providing social services fosters the de-legitimization of political parties and democratic process. The allegiances to religious groups replace political ones, thereby making democratic government weaker and less able to fulfill its role, both on domestic and international spheres. This process creates a dangerous and self-enforcing cycle.
