Muskegon Community College in Michigan recently hosted a professor — a left-leaning Christian ethicist — who calls in his new book for “defending democracy from its Christian enemies.”
In the book, David Gushee, a professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, argues Christians have started taking anti-democratic positions on political matters in the era of former President Donald Trump, the likely Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election.
Gushee “analyzes how Christians have discarded their commitment to democracy and bought into authoritarianism,” according to an online description of the book, “Defending Democracy From Its Christian Enemies.”
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In an email interview with The College Fix, the Georgia-based educator described his talk at the community college as “well-received” and said the audience was “quite respectful.”
In an interview with Insider, Gushee claimed democracy is “losing support” in the U.S., asserting Christians are abandoning the free system of government “entirely,” “motivated by what they would consider to be Christian motivations.”
”My dissertation was on the Nazi era and the Holocaust,” he said. “I’m a strong believer in democracy, and I also have a lot of knowledge about what happens when democracy is abandoned, and it’s not good, so I’m very passionate about protecting it.”
The author, who describes himself as Christian, said it was the riots in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, that prompted him to write his latest book.
”The book examines right-wing Christian politics focusing on places and times when reactionary Christians, very unhappy with the direction of modern culture, and unsatisfied with the results of the democratic process, tip over into authoritarian politics,” he told The College Fix.
You can watch his full talk at Muskegon Community College below:
Gushee has long held leftist views. In 2014, he made headlines when he announced his flip-flop on same-sex marriage. During a November speech at the Reformation Project Conference, he declared his shift to affirming LGBT relationships.
”I henceforth oppose any form of discrimination against you,” he said. “I will seek to stand in solidarity with you who have suffered the lash of countless Christian rejections. I will be your ally in every way I know how to be.”
Nicholas Budimir, a sociology professor at Muskegon Community College, said the event with Gushee, held March 14, was intended to promote civil disagreement and encourage critical thinking among the student body.
”At an institution of higher education,” Budimir explained, “we must have these conversations about societal values, how to think, and how to model constructive dialogue between folks with different worldviews.”
The event drew some 125 students and staff and lasted around 40 minutes. Gushee then took questions from the audience after his planned remarks.
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