This article explores how the two concepts of "risk" and "resource" can provide a framework to study and understand both current and historical perceptions and management of religious minorities in different contexts. By examining how policymakers identify religious minorities (or religion) as a risk or as aresource it is possible to develop an understanding of how policymakers set the terms for who is or is not included in the public realm as well as deepening the understanding of the underlying values of a society and ideological foundations contributing to the fear of the religious other.