Religion and Eugenics: A Critical Roundtable on Histories, Resurgences, and the Struggle for Bodily Freedom

This roundtable explores the enduring entanglements of religion and eugenics, analyzing how theological, economic, and political frameworks have historically shaped and continue to shape reproductive governance, bodily autonomy, and national belonging. While often framed as a relic of the past, eugenic logics persist in contemporary debates over reproductive rights, demographic anxieties, and medical ethics. From early 20th-century liberal Protestant justifications for racialized population control to modern right-wing natalism, religious actors have played central roles in sustaining and resisting eugenicist ideologies. The resurgence of pronatalist politics—exemplified by figures like J.D. Vance—revives historical fears of white fertility decline, positioning reproduction as a national imperative. At the same time, religious ethics continue to inform debates over reproductive justice, disability, and genetic “fitness,” raising urgent questions about whose lives are valued and whose autonomy is constrained. This roundtable interrogates how religious institutions and ideologies shape freedom, exclusion, and the contested futures of bodily sovereignty.