Churches across Europe are increasingly joining establishment efforts to keep conservative parties away from power.
In the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, the Catholic Church is openly alarmed by the right-wing populist AfD’s surge in the polls, with the party now on course to be the state’s strongest political force. So it has launched a campaign to promote what it calls “conscious voting,” a thinly veiled appeal aimed at slowing the AfD’s rise.
The initiative encourages voters to study party manifestos instead of voting “out of frustration,” while also funding anti-Right workshops, lectures on “right-wing extremism,” and training sessions teaching people how to respond to supposedly extremist arguments in everyday conversations. It insists this guidance is “not based on party politics, but on values.” But this is unlikely to convince many.
And in the Netherlands, the Dutch Council of (Protestant) Churches is also turning against what they describe as the “radical right-wing.” The Wynia’s Week publication describes a new report, which highlights the supposed threat of conservative ideology, as a “blatant capitulation” to the Left.
Theologian—and grandfather of Dutch commentator Eva Vlaardingerbroek—Johannes Vlaardingerbroek criticised the guide for asking only what could happen if right-wing forces are permitted to grow, rather than also about the impact of, say, mass uncontrolled immigration.
Vlaardingerbroek suggested “one has to conclude that, according to this report, the fight against far right ideology is where the heart of the church lies,” and that the goal of too many religious officials is “to purge these people”—that is, conservative voters—“of these obnoxious ideas.”
I fear that we are dealing in this report with much more than simply a misguided policy on a particular issue. This is not an isolated incident, but a disease, a corruption of the church caused by flawed political thinking.
Recently, the Dutch Council of Churches published a report ('De weg van discipelschap') on the question how the churches should deal with the rise of “far-right ideology” within the member churches. Dr. J. Vlaardingerbroek, Reformed minister emeritus, reacts on the many flaws and…
If churches continue on this path, they will—according to Dutch writer Syp Wynia—start “emptying out even faster.” At some stage, they may have no choice but to change tack.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
