Distinctive Features of Christian Democracy - Coursework Example

& No A Christian Democracy (Distinctive Features) 02 March Introduction There are several types of political beliefs or persuasions in the world today. One of its more prevalent or common political belief is the so-called Christian democracy. This is a type of political democracy that is quite common in Europe and also some parts of Latin America. In a general sense, this political ideology is characterized by social conservatism on matters of cultural, social, political and moral issues. More specifically, it tries to apply Christian beliefs and principles to public policies in terms of governance. However, on matters concerning that of finance, it can be considered as progressive (more reform-oriented). A Christian democratic government is therefore reform-minded on national economic and fiscal issues. The Christian democrats in Europe more or less follow their Christian leanings and try to apply this in their governmental policies when formulating these policies. But on the other hand, the Christian democrats in other parts of the world (such as in Latin America) are more inclined to the left-of-centre in their political views while their European counterparts can be said to be located towards the right-of-centre of the political spectrum. However, both type of Christian democrats can be said to favour using Christian teachings in their policies. This short paper discusses the distinctive features of a Christian democratic institution. Hopefully, it will enlighten the reader on the various shades of what constitutes the Christian democracy as it is being practised today and help understand how current world events often are shaped by the views of these Christian democratic governments in power. Conservatism and Christian democracy are almost the same in many respects, except for their perceived link to organised religion and the adoption of religious values (Hanley, 1996:32). Discussion Christian democracy is primarily an attempt to apply humanitarian principles in matter of political thought. However, because Christian democracy embraces a lot of different ideas, it is sometimes very difficult to categorize it into a single clear-cut ideology. In other words, a political ideology like Christian democracy can significantly evolve over a period of time and in their different political landscapes or context. It has elements in it that are sometimes more in common with conservatism, liberalism and even socialism. These features make it difficult to classify it as a specific ideology but these same features make it distinctive. Traditional Moral Values – the ideology of Christian democracy, as the name suggests, clearly calls for their followers to exercise traditional moral values. This applies to important matters that are in agreement with Christian theology, such as their stand against abortion, or their views regarding certain aspects of marriage, such as various grounds for divorce. Clearly the political belief is shaped to a large extent by religious views on social issues such as those mentioned above. For example, Christian democrats are considered conservatives on many of controversial issues like organ transplants, euthanasia (mercy killing), brain death or surrogate motherhood, same-sex marriages and artificial birth control methods. On these aspects, the Christian democracy can be considered to have more in common with liberals. This is because they find common cause on the issue of respect for human rights and the importance of personal initiatives. In short, this is an attempt by believers in Christian democracy to more or less reconcile their loyalty to the Church with the principles of a more widely-dispersed political freedom as exemplified in a democratic environment. Their original idea is to merge two seemingly irreconcilable aspects of their lives – politics and religion. The approach is to apply those aspects of their religion which do not conflict with the practice and application of democratic principles (Baum & Lefebure, 1987:72). Early History and Origins – the movement that gave rise to Christian democracy came from the Papacys reactions to certain social issues during the early nineteenth century. This is about the same time of the Industrial Revolution in which societies changed rapidly due to the technological and social changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution, in particular the widespread view that workers were generally exploited by the new capitalist class. Its history is of relevance here, because the Roman Catholic Church recognized the importance of union movements as a counterpoint to the exploitation of the working class by the capitalists. In this context, it is no different from todays liberation theology that is very prevalent in Latin America. Although it originated from Catholic teachings, todays version of Christian democracy is no longer distinctly Catholic in nature but has taken the more general Christian values that combined both Catholic and Protestant teachings as well. The Catholics and their Protestant counterparts see eye to eye on many issues, particularly their rejection of far right conservatism which they saw as a threat to individual freedoms. In other words, the Christian democrats advocate for a compassionate type of political conservatism. The evolution of this political ideology has reached a point where many of the existing Christian democratic parties currently in power no longer emphasize their religious views and can be considered to be more secular in their politics. However, this political philosophy still wants to take the more conservative stance on many social issues but with a view towards the adoption of newer or more progressive ideas espoused by liberalism. It is not really surprising that even the Eastern Orthodox Church has adopted many of its political views when it comes to issues of crucial importance to society. This is because this branch of Christianity is a most conservative sector of various Christian denominations. In this regard, Christian democrats do not view social or economic issues in terms of a class struggle as what Marxists like to point out always. The emphasis is that individuals have a duty towards society too. Economic Markets – there is another distinct feature of Christian democracy and that is the rejection of the notion of a class struggle as expounded by Karl Marx and communists. It views society as generally a community of individuals who need to work together instead of fighting each other for scarce resources. Christian democracy accepts most of the principles of a free market economy (capitalism) but is receptive to some forms of the limited government controls to minimize the evils of exploitation in a totally capitalist economy. The economy is seen as existing for the service of humanity and therefore must avoid the worst evils of wholly capitalist economies in which greed and exploitation often prevail. From a political economy perspective, this ideology is more associated with rejection of communism and to a certain extent, some of the salient policies of outright socialism. This stance takes the view that capitalism is a viable economic system because it recognizes a very important point – the freedom of an individual to pursue his own goals by his initiative. This simply means people should not depend on the government to support them all the time but a converse view is that the State should be ready at all times to extend help whenever needed. It views this duty of the State as two-fold: create the right conditions for people to achieve their economic and financial goals and secondly, to help in a more direct way if necessary. This second duty is exemplified by the adoption of the American government certain market controls to mitigate the ill-effects of a pure laissez-faire economic system. Examples are price controls imposed to lessen the negative impact of spiralling commodities prices. The policies adopted during the times of Franklin D. Roosevelt (The New Deal) and later, that of Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson (The Great Society) are examples. Both presidents had the domestic programs geared towards the alleviation of the suffering of millions of workers due the failure of the capitalist system. The New Deal was a response to the Great Depression of the 1930s; it focused on relief, recovery and reform. Great Society programs were to eliminate poverty. Social Values – this political doctrine is anchored on the pursuit and achievement of a social and economic justice based on the principles of a progressive social welfare system. It is not surprising that most of the countries in Europe today governed Christian democrats are actively involved in the most comprehensive type of social welfare systems. Examples of the countries under Christian democratic parties are Italy, France and Germany (considered as the most successful with the most concrete social welfare policies put in place). To a small extent, the present governments in Spain and Portugal also have characteristic of this political belief. The common thread among all these various European Christian democratic movements is the belief that social justice is best attained when economic equality is afforded to every citizen. Other countries such as Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium also lean towards this new political orientation that applies Christian principles to implementing public policies. This emphasis on the attainment of peace and stability based on social justice was due to the lingering problems of the previous century. This period in particular saw the world in a big mess such as the Great Depression which is considered the first real crisis of democracy and capitalism. It was also during this period that the world came to be in a fatalistic mode of thinking or expectation that another world war was inevitable (Papini, 1997:19). A real cause of most of these little wars was the fight for resources because populations were growing. In other words, Christian democracy came into being precisely to give focus to the growing problems of mass poverty. The Catholic Church was originally against Catholics to be engaged in politics (Kalyvas, 1996:21). Initially, the Vatican did not like a political party that is composed of Catholics. The Papacy thought it had influence on politics already through use of ambassadors and papal nuncios in addition to the pressure it exerted on high political functionaries in the government who were graduates of Catholic universities. However, it saw its influence wane due to the perceived neglect of crucial social issues in the discourse. Germany is considered as the most successful example of the implementation of these Christian democratic ideals in its government policies. A direct proof is Germany’s extensive social welfare system that has become a magnet for illegal immigrants from around the world. Germany is not so badly affected by the recent financial crisis and the consequent recession; its savings grace is the strength of its economy. Many immigrants (both legal and illegal) are attracted to come to Germany because of plentiful jobs (it has a shortage of about one million workers due to an ageing population) and a generous welfare system. Germany today has an estimated 7 million guest workers (or about 9% of its native population) with some 20% of the immigrants coming from other poorer parts of Europe (Adler & Gielen, 2003:165). Its welfare system is very comprehensive and is the envy of other member states of the European Union today. This generosity is the direct result of pursuing Christian democratic ideals which is to provide adequate economic sustenance to each and every person or citizen. By international standards, the German welfare system is very comprehensive and generous such that Germany can be truly considered as the first example of a welfare social state. This German model is being copied by other countries based on a social market economy principle. Its all-embracing and extensive welfare system includes health, pension, insurance, accident, long-term elderly care, child care and unemployment benefits (Giehle, 2010:1). Christian democracy came about as a response to the perceived “crisis of civilization” and the corresponding theological, cultural and social turmoil. In other words, much of these problems came about due to the unequal distribution of a country’s wealth. This is the origin of the so-called liberation theology, a concept of using Christianity to liberate the poor masses from grinding poverty caused by centuries of political and economic oppression. This radical theology is very much prevalent in Latin America today in which the Christian faith is viewed through the eyes of the poor who suffer from economic, political and economic injustices. Liberation Theology – this is a distinctive feature of the Latin American experience with Christian democracy. The widespread prevalence of poverty in this region makes it a good breeding ground of this radicalized form of Christian democracy in which priests take active part in the crucial issues facing their societies. In particular, there are rampant racial, ethnic, economic, political and social injustices committed by the rulers against their own native populace. It is incumbent to discuss this feature as it is being practiced today. With much of Europe having achieved a high degree of social justice and equality, much of the present struggles are in the political arenas of Latin America where there is poverty. This movement started as an offshoot of the widespread poverty caused injustices in the Latin American hemisphere. It was originally just a moral reaction or indignation rallies against the political and economic elites within these Spanish-speaking countries. It started in Chile and then spread to the other nearby countries such as Brazil, El Salvador, Uruguay and even reached as far north as Mexico. Without early Christian democracy, there is no liberation theology to speak of; it derived its philosophy from the practice of democratic Christianity. It had been branded as radical by some of its opponents but advocates claim that being a good Christian involves doing actual charitable works and taking an active participation in looking for the solution of social problems. In Latin America, the clergy who favor liberation theology are usually involved in land reform policy (to provide access to the land of landless peasants), the preservation of the environment by staging opposition to various illegal logging activities by big business firms and political advocacy. The Vatican later on imposed a form of limitation on this movement because it identified the Papacy as part of the elite, it embraced the tenets of Marxism and focused more on the institutional deficiencies rather than on being focused on the salvation of the individual. In other words, it became a hybrid sort of political belief which alarmed church authorities by its true democracy ideals (Petrella, 2004:53). Conclusion Christian democracy can be compared to having the best of all possible worlds. In this political philosophy with a heart derived from its Catholic teachings, government and society are supposed to exist for the sheer benefit of the individual. In this aspect, Christian democrats embrace the advantages of a free market system but this should be mitigated or tempered by a conscience against the excesses of a purely laissez faire economic system in which greed can prevail if not controlled by the government. As a political philosophy, it is still evolving as it responds to various situations and challenges in present societies. In European countries, Christian democracy had taken root with most governments in power controlled in the hands of Christian democratic political parties. This is evidenced by a comprehensive welfare system in these countries which had achieved a good measure of their economic objectives. In fact, a more appropriate term to be used will be welfare states, in that their governments take the primary responsibility of its citizens’ welfare. There is in place a very comprehensive welfare system or social safety nets that provide a minimum prescribed standard of living for all citizens within their borders. However, its variant which is liberation theology forcefully advocates and argues for a true democracy in which all people (rich and poor alike) are empowered; unlike the Vatican’s strategy of political and ecclesiastical quietism on many sensitive social issues in return for a tacit protection of the Vatican’s numerous commercial and financial interests. Priests who had joined liberation theology movements (mostly Latin America due to its widespread poverty) are convinced that re-reading Christianity today is still very much relevant. Wherever they see injustice, liberation theologians want to inaugurate real democracy as opposed to facades of a democracy. The real challenge is to find the delicate path and the right balance between good pragmatic practices versus radicalized idealistic politics (Mainwaring & Scully, 2003:377). References Adler, L. L. & Gielen, U. P. (2003) Migration: Immigration and Emigration in an International Perspective. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. Baum, Gregory & Lefebure, Marcus (1987) The Church and Christian Democracy. London, UK: Continuum International Publishing Group. Giehle, Sabine (2010) Facts about Germany: Social Security. [on-line]. Available at: http://www.tatsachen-ueber-deutschland.de/en/society/main-content-08/social-security.html [Accessed 21 February, 2011]. Hanley, David L. (1996) Christian Democracy in Europe: A Comparative Perspective. London, UK: Cassell Imprint. Kalyvas, Stathis N. (1996) The Rise of Christian Democracy in Europe. Ithaca, NY, USA: Cornell University Press. Mainwaring, Scott & Scully, Timothy (2003) Christian Democracy in Latin America: Electoral Competition and Regime Conflicts. Palo Alto, CA, USA: Stanford University Press. Papini, Roberto (1997) The Christian Democrat International. Lanham, MA, USA: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Petrella, Ivan (2004) The Future of Liberation Theology: An Argument and Manifesto. Hampshire, UK: Ashgate Publishing Limited. Read More