Religion and the Populist Radical Right: Secular Christianism and Populism in Western Europe

Nicholas Morieson’s “Religion and the Populist Radical Right” skilfully untangles the complex relationship between populism, Christianity and Islam in the context of a rapidly changing Western Europe. Focusing on the cases of the Dutch Party for Freedom and the French National Front, Morieson shows how such parties embrace a ‘secular Christianity’ – defending ‘Judeo-Christian values’ and linking Christian identity and secular national identity in order to characterize ‘the people’, and at the same time, exclude Muslims from their ideal society. Theoretically sophisticated and empirically grounded, the book will be of great interest not only to scholars of religion, populism, party politics, Western European politics and discourse analysis, but anyone who wishes to make sense of some of the vital and controversial political and social phenomena of our time.

Dr Benjamin Moffitt

Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow; Australian Catholic University

What role does religion play in the politics of the populist radical right in Western Europe? This is a hugely important question that remains key to understanding both the rise of populist leaders like Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders as well as the emergence of Islamic terrorism that is now sweeping across the continent. In Religion and the Populist Radical Right, Morieson sets out a new and ambitious response to why religion has returned to Europe and provides new, path-breaking insights into the nature of populism in European politics. In particular, by demonstrating how Christian beliefs and values have become secularised in Western Europe, Morieson shows that Christianist secularism has been mobilized to exclude Islam from European society. This is essential reading for those seeking a better understanding of how we deal with the question of religion in Western Europe in an age of both populism and Islamic terrorism.

Dr Mark Chou

Australian Catholic University