Christianity, Islam, Judaism: A great ecumenism of anti-liberals

When Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, goes campaigning, he rants about the “leftist identity and gender madness,” about “wokism,” which is a “brain virus” of the left, which is society’s “over-tolerance want to impose”. In the next sentence he emphasizes the value of family and godliness. DeSantis is Donald Trump’s main rival in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

When Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey, wants to reach his supporters, he too emphasizes the value of family and faith. “A strong nation requires a strong family.” But the LGBTQ movement strives to “degenerate our family structure”. Therefore, you have to do “what is necessary”.

When Avi Maoz, a far-right parliamentarian in Israel and head of the homophobic Noam party, gets angry, he promises to “cleanse body tissue infected with postmodern worldviews”. At the end of February, Maoz left the right-wing religious alliance around Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Such and similar statements from the ranks of his ultra-right partners prompted Netanyahu to clarify at the end of December. The coalition agreement does not allow the LGBTQ movement to be disadvantaged or their rights to be diminished.

They stand together in the fight against secularism and religious antipathy

USA, Turkey, Israel: With the rise of authoritarian, illiberal and right-wing movements, there is also a strengthening of authoritarian, illiberal and right-wing interpretations of religion. In the USA it is Christianity in the form of the Evangelicals, in Turkey Islam in its conservative Sunni character, in Israel Judaism as interpreted by ultra-orthodox Haredim (“the God-fearing”).

However, this strengthening does not cause a clash of cultures (“clash of civilizations”), as Samuel Huntington predicted, but on the contrary: large parts of the three monotheistic world religions weld together the perception of reality. They form a large ecumenical movement of anti-liberals.

Fundamentalist Christians, Muslims and Jews stand together in the struggle against secularism, religious antipathy, women’s emancipation, LGBTQ. Together they defend the traditional family, the right to veil, circumcision and public presence. They want to go back to the “true, unchangeable values”. The similarities outweigh the differences. They are sisters and brothers in spirit. Or better: in the wrong.

One against all, David against Goliath

Literal Bible evangelical Christians account for about 25 percent of US voters. Trump got 81 percent of their votes in the 2016 election when he became president. All Republican politicians want to be close to evangelicals, most notably ex-Vice President Mike Pence and ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Trump, on the other hand, hits a nerve with his rhetoric. From the contempt he receives from the “liberal media”, from his stigmatization, he draws the certainty that he is fighting for the right cause. One against all, David against Goliath. Evangelicals know this from their own experience. “If the world hates you, know that it hated me before you did,” says Jesus in the Gospel of John.

During the 20 years of his AKP rule, Erdogan re-Islamized Turkey. He has curtailed the power of the military, which had defended Ataturk’s secular legacy for decades. He has largely taken control of the media. He gave a voice to those who had felt politically oppressed and humiliated by the secular elite.

They claim to represent the “true will of the people”.

In order to achieve this, Erdogan has politicized Islam, which has significantly increased the importance of Islamic communities. A win-win strategy. The ideological glue that has held the AKP and Islamic organizations together since then consists of the rejection of secularism and liberalism and the claim to represent the “true will of the people”. Turkey competes with Egypt and Saudi Arabia for the title of representing the interests of Sunni Islam.

Israel owes the rise of Orthodox Judaism to demographics. The birth rate for secular women is 2.1 children, for ultra-Orthodox women it is 6.6 children. In 1980 the Haredim made up four percent of the population, today it is twelve percent. In 2040, their share will probably be more than 20 percent. This is changing the country’s identity and forcing politicians to make concessions to religious parties.

The liberal walls are still holding up. LGBTQ rights are enshrined in law, at least Netanyahu doesn’t seem to want to change that. Tel Aviv is considered a stronghold of the queer community. But in the rest of the country, tolerance is far lower. The most recent gay pride in Jerusalem was supported by only 21 percent of the city’s residents. In 2015, an ultra-Orthodox fanatic stabbed a 16-year-old girl to death in the middle of the parade.

From Trump to Erdogan to Netanyahu: An unholy alliance has formed from authoritarian, illiberal political forces with representatives of strictly conservative world religions. Both sides hold, support and encourage each other. They don’t want to conquer countries or markets, they want to conquer people’s souls.