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A central axiom of modernity is the intertwining of the secular state with the welfare state. The empirical reality observed around the world seems to bear this out, albeit some outstanding exceptions invite a questioning of this assumption. For instance, China, perceived as one of the most secularized of contemporary societies, has not developed a comprehensive welfare state comparable to the ones found in most OECD countries, when measured in terms of public expenditures devoted to education, health care, and income security. Reckoning with that singularity brings to light the need to interrogate the validity of our theories about the secular state and the nature of religion. It also calls for a paradigmatic change from the research tradition based on the Eurocentric concept of the welfare state to a more inclusive one using welfare regimes, which defines institutional arrangements and relations between states, markets, family, and communities in the delivery of learning, care, and relief. This theoretical framework looks at religions as world-views and institutions that structure social relations at all levels from the family to empires and legitimize, in competition with other sources of authority in the political and economic spheres, a variety of welfare regimes. The definition proposed here includes not only the communities connected with churches and mosques, but also those related to temple committees, monasteries, and professionals such as healers and diviners shaped by a wider range of cosmovisions than those of the Abrahamic traditions. This panel proposes thus to decenter and re-orient our thinking about the mutually constitutive evolution of secular states and welfare regimes by developing a comparative historical analysis of the interaction between religions and political institutions in social reproduction, care provision, and relief delivery. The objective of this panel is to bring together scholars exploring the issues of transmitting knowledge, caring for the sick, or helping the poor in societies shaped by different world-views before and after colonial contact. Contribution that are historically grounded or contemporary are welcome, and so are case studies and large n comparisons. This panel invites contributions that are empirical as well as theoretical.