Resisting Exclusion
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Populist political movements pose serious challenges to churches and theology in many global contexts. Such movements promote marginalization and exclusion of those who are regarded as not belonging to “the people”, LWF and thereby undermine core values – dignity, equality, freedom, justice, and participation of all citizens in decision-making processes. How can theology and the churches respond to these developments? Church leaders and teaching theologians from eighteen different countries offer analyses and examples for how churches take up the challenge to resist exclusion and to strengthen participation and people’s agency. Resisting Exclusion CONTRIBUTORS: ÁDÁM, Zoltán; ANTHONY, Jeevaraj; BATARINGAYA, Pascal; BEDFORD-STROHM, Heinrich; BEROS, Daniel Carlos; BLASI, Marcia; BOZÓKI, András; FABINY, Tamás; FORSTER, Dion; GAIKWAD, Global Theological Resisting Exclusion Roger; HALLONSTEN, Gunilla; HARASTA, Eva; HÖHNE, Florian; ISAAC, Munther; JACKELÉN, Antje; KAUNDA, Chammah J.; KAUNDA, Mutale Responses to Populism Mulenga; KIM, Sung; KOOPMANN, Nico; MCINTOSH, Esther; NAUSNER, Michael; NAVRÁTILOVÁ, Olga; PALLY, Marcia; RIBET, Elisabetta; RIMMER, Chad; SEKULIC, Branko; SINN, Simone; VON SINNER, Rudolf; STJERNA, Kirsi I.; THOMAS, Linda; WERNER, Dietrich. LWF Studies 2019/1 Studies LWF ISBN 978-3-374-06174-7 EUR 22,00 [D] Resisting Exclusion. Global Theological Responses to Populism LWF Studies 2019/01 The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Lutheran World Federation Resisting Exclusion. Global Theological Responses to Populism Edited by Simone Sinn and Eva Harasta LWF Studies 2019/01 Bibliographic information published by the German National Library The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the internet at http://dnd.dnd.de © 2019 The Lutheran World Federation Printed in Germany This work, including all of its parts, is protected by copyright. Any use beyond the strict limits of copyright law without the permission of the publishing house is strictly prohibited and punishable by law. This book was printed on FSC-certified paper Cover: LWF/Sean Hawkey Editorial assistance: Department for Theology and Public Witness Layout: Department for Theology and Public Witness Design: LWF-Office for Communication Services Printing and Binding: druckhaus köthen GmbH & Co. KG ISBN 978-3-374-06174-7 Published by Evangelische Verlangsanstalt GmbH, Leipzig, Germany, under the auspices of The Lutheran World Federation 150, rte de Ferney, PO Box 2100 CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland Contents Preface .............................................................................................................................9 Martin Junge Introduction .................................................................................................................11 Eva Harasta and Simone Sinn The churches as agents for justice Responsible Church Leadership in the Face of Polarization, Populism, Protectionism and Post-truth ................................................................................... 25 Antje Jackelén Messengers of Hope. The Churches in Germany as an Agent for Justice and against Populism ........................................................................................................ 35 Heinrich Bedford-Strohm Churches as Agents for Justice and against Division in Hungary .................... 43 Tamás Fabiny Public Theology, Populism, and Racism in the Post-Obama Era in the United States: A Womanist Summoning ............................................................................. 53 Linda E. Thomas Populist Politics in India and the Response of Churches .................................... 65 Roger Gaikwad Churches as Agents for Justice and against Division. Justice and Reconciliation as a Fundamental Mission of the Churches in Rwanda after the genocide ......77 Pascal Bataringaya Analysing the politics of populism Radical Right-wing Populism and Nationalized Religion in Hungary ..............91 Zoltán Ádám & András Bozóki 5 Resisting Exclusion. Global Theological Responses to Populism Populism and an ethic of intellectuality and catholicity. Reflections from South Africa ............................................................................................................... 109 Nico Koopman Populism, People and a Task for Public Theology ..............................................115 Rudolf von Sinner Populism in America: The duress-prodded perversion of the covenant ........ 125 Marcia Pally State Theology and Political Populism in South Africa? A Kairos critique. .. 133 Dion A. Forster Church Institution and Ethnonational Mythology: The Case of Ex-Yugoslavia ....141 Branko Sekulić Standing up against right-wing populist movements. Common ecumenical tasks in the context of shrinking civil space and the global crisis of democracy ...................................................................................................................147 Dietrich Werner Public theology in context – resisting exclusion Public Theology in Hong Kong in Relation to the Religious-Political Reality in the People’s Republic of China ............................................................................... 153 Sung Kim The Church and Social Justice: The Peaceful Struggles of Minority Christians under the De Facto State of Myanmar .................................................................. 159 Samuel Ngun Ling Enduring Theological Perspectives of the Ecclesia: Challenges and Responses in India .......................................................................................................................167 Jeevaraj Anthony The new neoliberal authoritarian governments in Latin America as a challenge to theological critique .......................................................................... 173 Daniel C. Beros On the Use of Religion by Right-Wing Israeli and Christian Groups ...............181 Munther Isaac 6 Creating Spaces as Churches. A Perspective from the Church of Sweden .... 189 Almut Bretschneider-Felzmann Responding to Sexism Resisting sexism theologically ...............................................................................197 Kirsi Stjerna Pentecostal Female Politicians, Populism and Reproduction of Wifely Submission in the Public Spheres. Religio-Cultural Discourse in Zambia’s Political Spheres ....................................................................................................... 207 Mutale M. Kaunda and Chammah J. Kaunda Public Theology, Populism and Sexism: The Hidden Crisis in Public Theology ..215 Esther McIntosh Who benefits? Exploring a gendered theological space ..................................... 229 Gunilla Hallonsten “Beautiful, modest, and housewife”: Women, politics and religion in Brazil ..237 Marcia Blasi Populism and truth What is Truth? A reflection on populism through the lens of John 18:28-38 ... 245 Chad Rimmer The chances and limits of a multi-religious society. Reflections on rationality and truth .................................................................................................................... 249 Olga Navrátilová Siblings Choose How to Relate. Reconnecting Abrahamic Faiths in Times of Rising Polarization ................................................................................................... 255 Michael Nausner A Post-Soviet Eclipse of Religious Consciousness in Estonia ............................261 Joona Toivanen Christian Nudges: Out of – or Into the Digital Filter Bubble? Theological Reflections on social media communication ...................................267 Florian Höhne 7 Resisting Exclusion. Global Theological Responses to Populism “… and the truth will set you free”. Propaganda, witnessing and the challenge of Christian political engagement ......................................................................... 275 Elisabetta Ribet Appendices Churches as Agents for Justice and Against Populism. Summary of Major Findings .....................................................................................................................283 List of Authors ........................................................................................................... 289 8 Preface Martin Junge Dignity and justice, respect for diversity, as well as inclusion and participa- tion are core values of The Lutheran World Federation (LWF).1 The global Lutheran communion, together with ecumenical, interreligious and civil society partners, actively engages in reflection and action to overcome manifold forms of injustice and exclusion. In view of this long-standing commitment, the LWF is deeply concerned by recent developments in public discourse, on national as well as interna- tional levels. Public discourse has become significantly more aggressive and divisive, as ethno-nationalist populist movements have gained trac- tion. Political agitation and hate speech have led to hate crimes, especially against vulnerable groups like refugees and migrants. There is a tangible negative impact on the cohesion of societies and the infringement on the rights and freedoms of diverse groups of people. Exclusionary populism unfolds a negative dynamic, which undermines the very fabric and existence of public and civil society space. It perverts basic norms and values of how we want to live together as society and as international community.