Which parties support this network in Europe?
Above all by Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz. Hungary is an important hub for this transnational interfaith network – or the global Christian right. Matteo Salvini’s Italian League, the AfD in Germany and the FPÖ under Heinz-Christian Strache are also included. Johann Gudenus is known to have spoken at conferences in Russia on the defense of Christianity in Europe.
The West defends itself against the West. How can this be explained?
Moscow Patriarch Kirill said in a sermon in early March that the invasion of Donbass became necessary because the Donbass was being threatened by the liberal West and its gay pride parades. This was phrased in an extreme way, but in essence Kyrill was right, wrote US right-wing commentators. The West has become anti-Christian and must be defended. Many conservative Christians in the US – including Evangelicals, Catholics and Orthodox – see themselves in the minority and feel threatened. In this sense of threat, they also seek alliances outside the US. And Putin was certainly one of those supporters they were looking for.
How dangerous are these political-religious alliances?
Taken in isolation, these groups are relatively small in both the US and Europe, but they are empowered by transnational networks and therefore more visible in the political process. This is nothing special, progressive leftist movements do that too. The danger I see concerns democratic dialogue. Ultimately, societies need to agree with applicable laws. It’s a negotiation process. That’s what politics, parliaments and people are for. It becomes more difficult to maintain mutual understanding when certain religious groups no longer believe that democracy is the best place for them.
Why do they reject democracy?
Democracy is no longer perceived as the political order in which your idea of religious life flourishes best. This harbors the potential for conflict within churches, because Christian churches in Europe have clearly spoken out in favor of democracy since World War II and, for example, have guaranteed freedom of religion. The radical right-wing minority in all Christian churches is breaking away from this consensus, leading to division.
Since when does this separation happen?
For decades. The network of this global Christian right happened first within the churches. The Vatican became a midwife to this interconnection in the 1990s, when it said that Christianity must confront the growing ideology of gender and feminism. The source of these developments is in the churches, but there are also opposing voices from the church. Pope Francis is critical of the global Christian right and has other priorities.
In the West, Christianity is often equated with the Enlightenment. Is this justified at all?
The Enlightenment was directed against the churches. But it is true that the emphasis on an enlightened Christianity is claimed primarily by Western Christianity. The Eastern Orthodox Churches have never done this. On the contrary, they were always very critical of the Enlightenment as an intellectual current in Europe. To be anti-Western means, above all, to be against the Enlightenment.