The theme of religion is part of the most recent work of Benoît Challand. In his doctoral dissertation, he presents a thorough discussion of the link between Islam and democracy, going against the widespread view that there cannot be democratic regimes in Muslim majority polities. His work on charitable Islamic organisations in Palestine also highlights the contigent factors that lead such organisations to use religiously-sanctioned rhetorics as an alternative way to frame their type of social activism.

The issue of religions in modern and post-modern settings is a current topic of interest of Benoit Challand, working on:
- the impact of the return of religion in European public sphere;
- the interplay between Muslim and Christian religions in Europe;
- the political dimension of religion in the Arab Middle East.

He presented a new research project at the International Summer Academy (July 2006) dedicated to "Islam and the Repositioning of Religion ", at Kulturwissenschaftsinstitut, Essen (Germay) on the differentiated impact of religion on informal networks of solidarity in pre- and modern settings. The title of the project is "Practical Kinship In The Early 1900s’ Swiss Alps Compared With The Palestinian Hamula Against The Backdrop Of Emerging Modernity".

He wrote different papers, as part of his Marie Curie Fellowship, dealing with the increasing role that religions play in the public spheres, European and Middle Eastern alike. Some of these will be published in collective volumes dealing with political theory and with religions in the public sphere in Europe.