Dutch MP Baudet distances from Christianity

Baudet caused a wave of indignation this week with an hour-long interview in English with the channel Geopolitics & Empire. In that, he says openly that he believes in a globalist conspiracy. “Evil reptiles” are trying to take over world governance. On the other hand, the Russian President Putin is the only one who can rescue the West. “I am a fan of Vladimir Putin. He is the hero we need.” Therefore, the military operation in Ukraine gives him “hope”, he says. “Ukraine is a stronghold of the global deep-state.”

He sees Putin as a fighter for Christian civilisation. “It is the nineteenth-century, Christian Europe of nations and traditional families and fossil fuels that he is fighting for.”

This interview coincided with another issue around Baudet in the Dutch Parliament. Because he did not register all his additional positions and incomes, he was suspended for a week from the political debate in the Lower House. He can still participate in the votes but not speak.

At the end of the online interview, he complains that “Christianity lacks masculinity”, he says. “It is always: Turn the other cheek, always that cross and that suffering. I mean, where are the successes? Where is the fight?” Moments later, he adds: “I’m actually more of a pagan.”

Owl of Minerva

Baudet’s view on Christianity as a cultural phenomenon became clear in early 2019. As soon as it became clear he had won the provincial elections with his “Forum Voor Democratie”, he gave a 20-minute-long speech. Amid coverage of the elections, he started his address on the “owl of Minerva”, that was broadcasted live on television. It still can be seen as a publicity stunt. For days, the media were full of analysis of that speech.

In that, he compared his election result to a resurrection of the declining Western culture. You don’t have to, Baudet said, “to accept the metaphysical foundations of Christianity to be able to accept the resurrection idea as the leading motive of Western civilisation. Something that seemed dead, something that seemed past, something that would be behind us, something that would be definitely behind us that can, we know, blossom again. The idea that something that was dead and past can blossom again, just that, just that –dear friends– is our guiding principle.”

Referendum

Before becoming a Parliament member, Baudet was trained as a musician and philosopher. He wrote a PhD dissertation about European integration in 2012 under the title “The Assault on the Nation-State”. The Forum for Democracy started as an intellectual think-tank before entering the election campaign as a party in 2017. In 2016, he got a well-known public figure in the run-up to the referendum about the EU-Ukrainian association treaty. It is no exaggeration to say that the No-vote in this referendum is to be thanked to Mr Baudet.

From 2020 onwards, Baudet has always been very critical of Covid-19 precautions. He constantly understood the Corona measurements as a means to curb individual freedoms. Finally, this would grow into a legal dictatorship with maximum control. He compared this with the persecution of the Jews in the Second World War. At the same time, he was accused of anti-Semitism, from which Baudet did not distance himself.

Nietzsche

During all these years, some conservative Christians have defended Baudet as a trustworthy companion. His scepticism about European integration, his criticism of mass immigration and his preference for classical music were very attractive to some Bible-believing Christians. He was the man who defended the Judeo-Christian heritage as the way forward.

On Twitter, Baudet’s statement that Christianity is weak was met with the analysis that this was precisely Nietzsche’s view on Christianity. For that same reason, Nietzsche sympathised with Islam more than with his home’s (pietistic) faith.

Most political reactions are very critical. The ChristianUnion legal Gert-Jan Segers was full of compassion. “Perhaps only prayer will help here.” According to Segers, Baudet’s statements are beyond reason.