Whether Pro-Trump rioters parading oversized crosses and Jesus flags during the storming of the US Capitol in January 2021 or the far-Right parties in Europe stylizing themselves as the defenders of their countries’ ‘Judeo-Christian heritage’, right-wing populists are determined to use Christian symbols in order to appeal to voters’ concerns about national and cultural identity.
From Washington to Berlin, these populists often appeal to Christian identity as a marker against Islam, but without necessarily aligning themselves with Christian doctrine, beliefs, and institutions. But between one side of the Atlantic and the other, the Christian communities these groups hope to attract are reacting very differently.
In the US, white Christians supported Donald Trump at record levels. However, in much of western Europe, Christian voters appear comparatively ‘immune’ to right-wing populists’ appeals. A prime example is Germany, where the far-Right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) consistently scores significantly higher amongst irreligious voters than amongst Protestants or Catholics, and where the institutional churches themselves have emerged as some of the far Right’s most outspoken public critics.
