The rise of religious fascism

White Christian nationalists and other faith-based extremists share traits that subvert their respective faiths and threaten multicultural societies.

- Kumar Ramakrishna

In recent years, the term “fascism” has reentered global discourse amid warnings of the cult of “strongman” authoritarian leaders. Attacks have been levelled at US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, among others, for being fascist. Yet, there is a less discussed but no less important development that bears watching: the rise of religious fascism.

To appreciate why this phenomenon is of concern, a quick look at the concept of fascism is in order, to better understand how its defining characteristics are showing up in unexpected similarities between far-right, Islamist and other faith-based extremist movements.

Numerous scholars have attempted to explain fascism, usually with Hitler and Mussolini as their models.

Dr Robert Paxton, a professor emeritus at Columbia University who has written extensively on fascism, defined it as a “form of political behaviour marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood”. To redress these perceived ills, its ideologues pursue their goals through “redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints”.

Philosopher Jason Stanley more recently argued that fascism was less of an ideology than a political method - one that can emerge anywhere, any time, under the right conditions.

Others, like writers Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey, describe fascism as driven more by emotion and force than reason. It is, they say, “pumped into the heart and enforced by the fist”.

Crucially, many scholars have noted that fascism often takes on quasi-religious characteristics.

German political scientist Hans Maier calls it a “political religion,” demanding submission to an absolute authority. American professor of history David Redles even asserted that Hitler’s Nazi movement displayed characteristics of religious fundamentalism, such as the belief in salvation through a messianic Fuhrer and apocalyptic prophecies of a coming “final battle”.