Christian democracy is an unknown ideology, Swedish party leader says

“I am so happy that it has come”, says Busch to the Christian Swedish daily Dagen. She refers to the published anthology “Christian Democracy”. It is a book that turns and twists everything that has to do with the Christian Democratic ideology, from the Ppope’s encyclical “Rerum novarum”, which came in 1891 and set the tone for what would emerge from the Catholic social doctrine to the Swedish Free Church party that emerged in the 1960s.

In the book, there is a focus on the political movement that took over the continent after the end of World War II, with the German CDU in focus, as well as ideologically important concepts such as natural law, the principle of infallibility and personalism.

According to Busch, the book is needed because “many do not know one of the greatest ideas, traditions and ideologies”.

Douglas Brommesson, a professor of political science at Linnaeus University, agrees with Busch. “As an ideological tradition, it is overlooked. Christian democracy is a tradition of ideas that has often not been recognized, but many have seen it as Christianity in political packaging.”

Christian democracy first emerged in 19th-century Europe. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ideas and traditional Christian values. Christian democracy is often considered centre-right on cultural, social and moral issues but centre-left concerning economic issues, civil rights, and foreign policy.