The Congressional Research Service reports on the rise is Islamic extremism in Bangladesh

Listen to the Council's Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle East Studies Vali Nasr discuss his book, The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future.

Watch the Council's Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle East Studies Vali Nasr discuss his book, The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future.

CFR Fellow Walter Russell Mead discusses his Foreign Affairs article on evangelical Christians and U.S. foreign policy.

Listen to Senator John C. Danforth discuss his book, Faith and Politics: How the “Moral Values” Debate Divides America and How to Move Forward Together, as part of the Council's Religion and Foreign Policy Series.

Watch Senator John C. Danforth discuss his book, Faith and Politics: How the "Moral Values" Debate Divides America and How to Move Forward Together, as part of the Council's Religion and Foreign Policy Series.

Evangelical Christians have been a force in U.S. society dating back to the nineteenth century. But experts say in recent years their influence on U.S. foreign policy has grown, from humanitarian activity in Africa to human rights in Asia.

Evangelical Christians, a domestic political force in the United States, are increasingly making their influence felt in foreign policy. They have focused primarily on human rights, humanitarianism, and support for Israel, but more evangelicals are taking up issues like climate change.

CFR Adjunct Senior Fellow Vali R. Nasr discusses the axis of Shia influence in the Middle East.

This report from the International Crisis Group considers the role of Iraq's Muqtada al-Sadr and the Sadrist movement he embodies.

Backgrounder: Some experts say a "Shiite crescent" holds the potential to transform Islamic politics in the coming years.

Shiite-Sunni relations have become frayed since the war in Iraq and the rise of Sunni insurgents like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The outcome of the war will have widespread consequences for the future of Islam's followers.

Panelists took an in-depth look at the origins of the Shia, where Shia populations are located, and the Shia political-religious eschatology.

Panelists addressed whether Shia power is destabilizing, with particular attention placed on the Shia communities in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Kuwait, Iran , and Iraq, and how this accumulation of Shia power affects the wider Sunni world.

Panelists discussed the marginalized Shia population and how it might influence U.S. policy in the Middle East.