In Hungary there's talk of re-branding authoritarian illiberal democracy with something more palatable, less jarring - Christian Liberty. That does sound mighty fine, eh?
Organic democracy. More love, not less freedom.
In his Demokrata editorial, András Bencsik says that by reframing his idea of illiberal democracy as ‘Christian liberty,’ the Prime Minister made clear that by illiberalism he meant more love, not less freedom. Orbán himself explained to his audience, Bencsik recalls, that Christianity expects its followers not to do to others what they don’t want to be done to themselves. The pro-government pundit interprets the difference between Prime Minister Orbán’s Christian liberty and liberalism as the difference between an organic democracy as compared to a doctrinaire democracy. One form of doctrinaire democracy was communism, he explains, while another form is liberal democracy, which puts the individual in the centre of liberty. Individuals, however, cannot exist on their own. Whether they realise it or not, they are part of a larger community, Bencsik concludes.
Using the term christian when discussing politics leads to using so called christian values when discussing policy.
ReplyDeleteDepending upon your view of these values which are not ,most times, tolerant of many aspects of life especially sex, nature ( man has dominion over animals) and quite often democracy should be superseded by a theocracy .
Religious intolerance of none believers lies just below the surface of many a sermon.
TB
ReplyDeleteI agree. There is a sinister undercurrent to this step toward theocracy. A good discussion of this can be found in Kevin Phillips 2006 book, "American Theocracy." Definitely a worthwhile read.
Ssshhhh. The Repugs might hear and use it for their 2020 campaign. I'd wager a good 25%+ of Americans would go for it.
ReplyDeleteYes. Let's call it that. Then we can justify anything in the name of religion and get away with it. Anyong
ReplyDelete