This chapter is about Myanmar’s rapid political and social change, after decades-long isolation under military rule. It raises questions about the role of religious actors in the democratization processes. In 2015, four laws to ‘protect race and religion’ were passed in Myanmar’s Parliament, during a critical time in Myanmar’s political transition to democracy, and in the same year as the country’s first free elections in 25 years. The laws seek to regulate marriages between Buddhist women and non-Buddhist men, to prevent forceful conversion through state control of conversion from one religion to another, to abolish polygamy, and to promote birth control and family planning in certain regions of the country. Drawing on empirical data from Myanmar, the chapter argues that the rise of Buddhist nationalism during Myanmar’s democratization process primarily needs to be understood as a form of cultural defence in times of transition, cultural change, and societal insecurity.