Christian Democrats

Christian democracy is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching, as well as neo-Calvinism.

"This is the Christian Democratic tradition and the structural pluralist concepts that underlie it. The Roman Catholic social teaching of subsidiarity and its related concepts, as well as the parallel neo-Calvinist concept of sphere sovereignty, play major roles in structural pluralist thought."

It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ideas and traditional Christian values, incorporating social justice as well as the social teachings espoused by the Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinism, Pentecostal and other traditions of Christianity in various parts of the world. Pentecostals have also secured parliamentary representation in countries such as Australia, Colombia, Nicaragua, and Peru, and have helped form Christian political parties that have won parliamentary seats. A noteworthy case is Sweden's Christian Democrats party, not only because it is in a continent where Pentecostals have struggled to make political headway but also because its Pentecostal founder, Lewi Pethrus, who challenged secularization by creating institutions to foster a Christian counterculture, was active at a time when Pentecostals in Sweden or the United States shunned politics. After The World's War Against Communism, Catholic and Protestant movements of neo-scholasticism and the Social Gospel, respectively, played a role in shaping Christian democracy.

Morality

Christian democrats' views include traditional moral values (on marriage, abortion, prohibition of drugs etc.) opposition to secularization, opposition to state atheism, a view of the evolutionary (as opposed to revolutionary) development of society, an emphasis on law and order, and a rejection of Marxism and communism. Christian democrats are open to change (for example, in the structure of society) and not necessarily supportive of the social status quo, and have an emphasis on human rights and individual initiative. A rejection of secularism, and an emphasis on the fact that the individual is part of a community and has duties towards it. An emphasis on the community, social justice and solidarity, support for a welfare state, labor unions and support for regulation of market forces.

References

Further reading

• , , , Political Catholicism in Europe 1918–1945, , , 2004, , , , , , ,

• , , , Christian Democracy in Europe since 1945, , , 2004, , , , , , ,

• , , , Christdemokratie in Europa im 20. Jahrhundert / Christian Democracy in 20th Century Europe, , , 2001, , , , , , ,

• Kaiser, Wolfram, , Christian Democracy and the Origins of European Union, , , 2007, , , , , , ,

• Kalyvas, Stathis N. (1996). The Rise of Christian Democracy in Europe Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-8320-4
• Kalyvas, Stathis N. and Kees van Kersbergen (2010). "Christian Democracy". Annual Review of Political Science 2010. 13:183–209.

• Political Exile in the Global Twentieth Century: Catholic Christian Democrats in Europe and the Americas p. 21. Belgium: S.l.: LEUVEN UNIVERSITY PRESS (2021). ISBN 978-946-27030-70

External links

• New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia – an article on Christian Democracy
• Christian Democracy in Western Europe: 1820–1953 – a book by Michael Fogarty
• 'Conservativism and Christian Democracy' – an essay by former (1992–2015) UK Conservative MP David Willetts
• 'Blue Labour + Red Tory = Christian Democracy?' – an article by Nicholas Townsend, April 2015

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• Comelli, Martino (December 2021). "Paradoxes of (il)liberal democracy: the role of Christian Democracy". Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research: 1–24. doi:10.1080/13511610.2021.2016377. 
• Dussel, Enrique (1981). A History of the Church in Latin America Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-2131-7
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