"Harvard Magazine", in a September 2020 profile, wrote, "Feldman is increasingly prominent as a public intellectual and a voice about public affairs." As an academic and public intellectual, Feldman is concerned with issues at the intersection of religion and politics. In the United States, this has a bearing on First Amendment questions of church and state and the role of religion both in government and in private life. Feldman also specializes in Islam. In Iraq, this led him to support the creation of a democracy with Islamist elements. This last position was lauded by some as a pragmatic and sensitive solution to the problems inherent in the creation of a new Iraqi government; others took exception, however, characterizing Feldman's views as simplistic and shortsighted.