By Samuel Vandeputte
A spectre is haunting the world – the spectre of populism. With India, Indonesia, and Brazil, three of the four largest democracies in the world are currently run by populists. The rise of populism is not limited to the Global South, but also impacts the Western world. Brexit, populist electoral surges across Europe, and the landmark election of Donald Trump all challenge the liberal order that has been dominating Western politics for decades. We should not think about these political earthquakes lightly. Young Christians need to seriously wrestle with the phenomenon of populism.
Before engaging populism, we first need to get an idea of what we are dealing with. A helpful way of understanding populism is viewing it as an ideology. In Political Visions and Illusions, political scientist David Koyzis argues that ideologies are an incarnation of the Old Testament phenomenon of idolatry. Ideologies, like idolatry, take something good in creation and elevate it to a position where it becomes a god. Liberals elevate the individual, common ownership is at the core of the socialist idolatry, and nationalists exaggerate the importance of the nation. Today’s populists draw on several contemporary ideologies, including liberalism, socialism, democratism and conservatism.
What truly distinguishes populists, however, is their nationalist obsession with defending “the people” from internal and external threats. The charismatic populist presents himself as a salvific figure offering simple fixes to complex issues. While different strands of contemporary populism overlap with different ideologies, populism can best be seen as a resurgence of the nationalist ideology.
The Antithesis Between Public Justice and Populism
Having defined populism as a new form of nationalism, we will now turn our attention to seriously engaging this new phenomenon from a Christian perspective. For our purposes, it is hard to imagine a historical figure better suited to help us wrestle with populism than Dutch polymath Abraham Kuyper. Kuyper is one of the most influential figures in the Christian democratic movement to this day. Sometimes mistakenly called a populist himself, Kuyper successfully rallied support of the kleine luyden (“little people”). As patron of Dutch “average Joes,” Kuyper is an excellent guide in our quest to be attentive to the concerns of the masses while being faithful Christians.
An essential principle to understanding Kuyper’s political philosophy is public justice. Public justice is essential to societal flourishing. Public justice proposes that much of what contributes to human flourishing is not the task of government, but rather that of other societal institutions such as the family, church and business. At the same time, public justice recognizes that much of what contributes to human flourishing does fall within the responsibility of government.
Jonathan Chaplin, who is an intellectual heir to Kuyper, surveys what it means to seek public justice in our democratic age. In his recent Faith in Democracy: Framing a Politics of Deep Diversity, Chaplin presents a vision of Christian democratic pluralism as a superior alternative to populism. His vision acknowledges that the two parts of the political community — government and the people — are partners in the journey towards a just society. More succinctly, citizens hold an office that grants them authority to participate in political life. Thus, the citizenry has a right, and perhaps duty, to play an intricate part of political life.
Chaplin mounts a Christian defense of democracy as a particularly beneficial way for citizens to fulfill their partnership with government. Chaplin writes that “Christianity is thus emphatically “populist” in the sense that it champions the indispensable agency of the people in the discernment and implementation of the political community’s defining purpose.” Populism rightly asks: “is government honoring its partnership with the people?”
While populism asks the right question, it provides the wrong answer. Populist politics are tribalistic in nature, seeking to do away with pluralism rather than fostering it. Christian nationalists are a good case in point. Chaplin aptly summarizes the motive of Christian nationalists: “Their interest is not in enabling ‘the people’ in all its extant diversity to participate in a common search for public justice, but in exploiting existing procedures to the very limits of the law so that their vision of a Christian nation will secure ever greater public sway.” Christian nationalists seek government patronage for a narrow segment of the people, including half the population at most. Populists miss a vision for the common good.
“If we embrace populism, we stop politically loving our neighbor.”
Many Christians understandably are drawn to this style of politicking. Essentially, populism offers Christians a way to win the game of politics. Once victory is achieved, populists implement a sectarian vision for society in defense of their constituents. There are obvious advantages to having “your” people serve in the highest echelons of government and the court system, but there is a hefty price to pay. If we embrace populism, we stop politically loving our neighbor. A public justice approach to politics strives towards the flourishing of all, not merely Christian, neighbors.
Towards a Faithful Politics for All
Chaplin, in contrast to Christian populists, goes through the arduous task of constructing a vision of faithful Christian engagement for the benefit of everyone. It’s important to acknowledge that there are many contending faiths and worldviews in our society today. Translating this reality to the political realm, Christians ought to seek agreement across these deep divides. In his defense of the virtue of constitutional democracy, Chaplin presents a case for jurisdictional secularism. Jurisdictional secularism requires an equal treatment of faiths by government, not favouring any particular religion. Government is impartial to faith, resulting in an abundance of religious freedom, which does justice to all people. Politics is not the place to argue about beliefs, but to argue with beliefs.
As it is a feature of human life that we all bring pre-rational commitments to the public sphere, we should not hide these beliefs nor water them down. This is what Chaplin calls confessional candour. We must break with the secular myth that faith and public life can be separated. Everyone should be open about their deepest convictions and seek agreement based on those things that matter most to them. Politics is a place for good disagreement among contending faiths.
As good as a public justice vision for politics may sound, it is unlikely to win many converts just yet. However, a century after Abraham Kuyper’s death, the Netherlands may once again provide a starting point for a revitalized vision of Christian democracy. For the 2017 election, the Dutch Christian Union party named their program “Hopefully Realistic.” An attitude of hopeful realism gets at the core of how Christian democracy can once again appeal to the masses.
1. Recasting Humility.
A hopefully realistic understanding of politics is rooted in humility. As Christian philosopher and theologian Richard Mouw points out in When the Kings Come Marching In, we are called to actively await Christ’s return. Being created in the image of God, we have incredible potential to enact justice. Yet, we cannot accomplish our own salvation. Stemming from this realization, we need a renewed alertness to idolatry. The institutional church plays a key role in admonishing members to stay clear of political idolatries, including populism. Church leaders ought to warn their parishioners not to adhere to these false narratives of salvation, thereby risking real redemption.
2. Recasting Confidence.
If we truly believe that Christ’s lordship extends over all of society, we cannot but be audaciously confident. Currently, populists do a much better job of selling their message. In order to be attractive once again, Christian democracy needs boldness stemming from the truth of Christianity. We deem our faithful solutions are the best for everyone and should present them as such. Hopeful realists’ confidence is not blind or naïve. Instead, flowing from a humble attitude towards politics, our confidence is infused with hope. Realistic hope, that is.
3. Recasting Prudence.
While being convicted Christians, hopeful realists employ a principled approach to society’s pluralism. We respectfully engage our political counterparts, seeking to practically accommodate our difference in the interest of all. In our day and age, a prudential approach to the common good will have special interest in accommodating the legitimate concerns of those drawn to populism. It is crucial for public justice’s survival that its adherents listen to the concerns of their neighbours and lovingly stand with them.
Populists rightly stress the importance of “the people” as a partner in governance. Populism becomes problematic and deeply divisive, however, when it champions the interests of a specific group over that of others. As young Christians, we need to ask ourselves whether we want to give up on our neighbors.
Thankfully, the rich Christian democratic tradition offers an alternative way to deal with legitimate populist concerns. Public justice can not only survive populism but provide even better answers. A century after Abraham Kuyper’s death, it is time for a popular rebirth of public justice.
Samuel Vandeputte worked for the Center for Public Justice as a 2021 summer intern. Samuel is a recent graduate of Redeemer University, where he studied International Relations and Philosophy.
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