From “Defending Democracy from its Christian Enemies” by David P. Gushee
First, we turn to authoritarianism. Recall that in the last chapter we described political authoritarianism as weakening popular sovereignty and centralizing power in one person or group, undercutting the rule of law and free and fair electrons, blocking or limiting freedom of speech, misusing state power to weaken or eliminate political opposition, manipulating the criminal justice system and the judiciary, and weakening essential civil rights and civil liberties protections.
It can be documented easily that in multiple countries conservative Christians have demonstrated susceptibility toward or active support for political authoritarianism as just described. We will consider such tendencies in the current or very recent politics of Russia, Poland, Hungary, Brazil, and the United States. Taking a longer historical view, we will also consider older examples in late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century France and Germany. While there have been examples of self-identified Christians supporting left-wing authoritarian movements and governments – for example, in the polarized politics of some Latin American countries – the far more common paradigm has been right-wing Christian authoritarianism.