Defending Democracy from Its Christian Enemies

Consensus Volume 46 Issue 2 Lutherans and the Nicene Creed Article 18 7-25-2025 Defending Democracy from Its Christian Enemies David Pfrimmer Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus Part of the Political Theory Commons Recommended Citation Pfrimmer, David (2025) "Defending Democracy from Its Christian Enemies," Consensus: Vol. 46: Iss. 2, Article 18. DOI: 10.51644/PSBH2312 Available at: https://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol46/iss2/18 This Book Reviews is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by an authorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact . Pfrimmer: Defending Democracy from Its Christian Enemies Book Review Defending Democracy from Its Christian Enemies Gushee, David P. Chicago: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co, 2023 I n her 2010 book The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, author Marci McDonald warns Canadians that the political landscape is being subtly “co-opted by an extremist version of Christianity.”1 Adjunct Professor Christine Mitchell describes these Christian nationalists as “people who combine American-style white evangelicalism with Canadian nationalism to declare themselves as the only authentic Canadians.”2 This troubling trend became strikingly clear in the displays of Christian nationalism observed during the 2022 Freedom Truck Convoy protests. Christian or religious nationalism isn't just a Canadian issue; it's also been an alarming and growing presence in the United States. Canadians are trying to navigate its effects, especially considering recent geopolitical events like the conflicts in Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Gaza. This kind of religious nationalism brings up important theological and ethical dilemmas for the faithful as they watch their religious beliefs being distorted and exploited by authoritarian and autocratic leaders. Theologian and ethicist David Gushee provides a thoughtful analysis of how Christian nationalism threatens democracy and undermines the very faith it claims to represent. He highlights the evolution of terminology, noting the shift from what was once termed the “Christian right” to the now often-used label of Christian nationalism. Gushee goes one step further in describing the phenomenon more precisely as authoritarian, reactionary Christianity. In response to the perceived secular revolutions of the 1960s, Gushee argues that in the 21st century, “tens of millions of Christian people are attempting to bend the arc of history backward, attempting a religious counterrevolution to the secular revolutions they cannot accept and by which they feel threatened” (p. 74). These are the “Christian enemies from within” who jeopardize the very concept of a secular state that upholds religious freedom and democracy and distorts the very faith they purport to represent. The signs of these counterrevolutions are the recurring “culture wars” between groups with differing values, beliefs, and practices, especially on social, moral, or political issues. As Gushee points out, these conflicts relate to issues of gender, sexuality, marriage, race, immigration, media, technology, patriotism, war, abortion, contraception, and more (p. 77). Marci McDonald, The Armageddon Factor : The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada, Toronto: Vintage Canada (2011): 15; cited by Ira Basen, “From ‘Bible Bill’ to Stephen Harper, the Evolution of Faith-Based Politics,” CBC News, March 15, 2013, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/from-bible-bill-to-stephen-harper-the-evolution-offaith-based-politics-1.1369490. 2 Christine Mitchell, “How White Christian Nationalism Is Part of the ‘Freedom Convoy’ Protests,” The Conversation, February 16, 2022, http://theconversation.com/how-white-christian-nationalism-is-part-of-thefreedom-convoy-protests-177113. 1 Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2025 1 Consensus, Vol. 46, Iss. 2 [2025], Art. 18 Authoritarian reactionary Christian movements often exhibit antidemocratic tendencies and may support authoritarian leaders. They appear willing to employ almost any means necessary to re-establish “a premodern world of Christian political and cultural hegemony” (p. 35). In his exploration of authoritarian reactionary Christianity, Gushee takes the reader on a short tour of eight countries—Israel, France, Germany, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Brazil, and the United States. Gushee highlights how, in each case, authoritarian reactionary Christian movements threaten democracy by intertwining religion with a right-wing political agenda. While not a Christian example per se, its religious nationalism resembles the other cases: Israel was originally a secular national project that sidelined traditional Judaism of the diaspora. With the arrival of ultra-Orthodox Jews, the rise of the “messianic militancy” of the settler movement, and a succession of wars, it became even more plausible to see modern Israel as the fulfillment of eschatological religious hopes rather than just another post-war independent state (p. 84). Authoritarian reactionary Judaism now sees democracy as incompatible with its long-term goal of Torah-based theocratic governance (p. 84). In France, the tumultuous shifts between democracy and monarchy throughout the 19th century illustrate how authoritarian Christian nostalgia ebbs and resurfaces (p. 92). Authoritarian reactionary Christianity supports the nostalgic pull of the “ancien regime’s” identity for a conservative segment of the French population. Germany's rise of Nazism was rooted in earlier utopian ideologies that utilized Christianity to veil fascist policies (pp. 106, 114). Authoritarian reactionary Christianity was a secular and corrupted “Kulturreligion” that “dreamed of a future Germany that was not just better than the modern era, but better than any previous era” (p. 106). Putin’s “Russkiy mire” (Russian world) reflects a revival of imperial ambitions, bolstered by the Russian Orthodox Church, aiming to thwart modernity and European influences in Ukraine (p. 124). Authoritarian reactionary Christianity hopes to restore imperial Russia with its new Czar and the pre-eminence of the Russian Orthodox Church. Poland’s recent political shifts under the Law and Justice party (PiS) reveal troubling partnerships between conservative Catholicism and authoritarianism (p. 134). Viktor Orbán's Hungary exemplifies democratic backsliding, with his regime transforming Hungary into an illiberal Christian autocracy that undermines judicial independence and, at times, uses antisemitic rhetoric (p. 142). Weakening the judiciary, tampering with elections, controlling the media, and supressing independent thought, Orbán has become a hero to the American religious right (p. 139). In Brazil, Bolsonaro's Catholic-evangelical coalition promotes an authoritarian reactionary Christian agenda that is distinctly anti-LGBTQ+, anti-Marxist, anti-Black, and (...truncated)