Other Christian Democratic Parties[edit]

Couldn't both of Ireland's main political parties, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, be considered Christian Democratic?

Couldn't the Republican Party (United States) also be considered Christian Democratic.

Fianna Fail and the Republican Party favor policies that are essentially Christian Democratic policies.

  • Regarding whether the U.S. Republican Party could be considered Christian Democratic -- Absolutely not. The Republican Party totally rejects the idea (at least in principle) of a social market economy (i.e. the basic Christian Democractic principle of seeing a role for the state in alleviating basic social insecurity; e.g. universal health insurance) in favor of laissez-faire economic policies. This is why there is a nascent Christian Democratic Party in the U.S.    GUÐSÞEGN   – UTEX – 07:07, 3 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
  • Additionally, some US Republican party politicians may have opinions which can be viewed as favorable to Christianity, but the party does not endorse any religious denomination or belief in its platform. 66.82.9.54 14:14, 23 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I agree, the GOP is not Christian Democrat, nor even the Religious Right. Christian Democratic beliefs are based either in Church doctrine (for Catholics) or in the Social Gospel (for Protestants), whereas the Religious Right's ideology is usually rooted in Prosperity Theology, consistent with their right-wing stance. You see very little concern for the poor or for social justice from James Dobson, Mike Huckabee and their ilk.
In addition, Christian Democracy tends to be nondenominational, appeals to many different countries and cultures and is not wedded to either side of the political spectrum. By contrast, the Religious Right is strongly conservative, Protestant and American. Catholics, Mormons and even Jews may work with it on individual issues, but are still considered damned and possibly dangerous by the vast majority of the RR. And because the movement is so wedded to American nationalism and exceptionalism, it has very little appeal outside of the United States (only possible exception is South Korea, where Christians are still a minority in any case).
Sorry, but CD and RR are not compatible. Far from it. They may sound similar because they're both Christian, and because they agree on the two hot button issues of our day (abortion and gay marriage). But since they disagree on virtually everything else, you can safely say that the Republican Party and the Religious Right are not a Christian Democratic party/movement. 213.181.226.21 (talk) 12:51, 16 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Not bad. I'll make it more concise; the idea of Christian Democracy was to inject Christian ideals into politics, whereas the idea of the Religious Right was to inject Republican ideals into Christianity. It's true that the Party is actually more secular than much of its base and, at least in principle, does not support any single religion. But mostly the difference is in where their priorities are. The defining characteristic of the RR is "Right", not "religious"; their theology is whatever it has to be to justify their right-wing positions. Case in point was the "Prosperity theology" you mentioned (that the relative wealth of a person is an indication of how well he and God get along). So far as I know, there is nothing either in Scripture or in the old church teachings to justify this position (wasn't it Jesus who said that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God"? While I'm sure he wasn't calling for the damnation of the rich in general, it should be an indicator that wealth and blessedness aren't the synonyms Jerry Falwell made them out to be).
By contrast, the defining characteristic of Christian Democrats is "Christianity", not adherence to any particular political ideology. They may agree with conservatives on protecting the lives of unborn babies, but they also tend to endorse social programs to help support said babies in the spirit of Christian charity. They may agree with liberals on the need to protect homosexuals from discrimination and hate, but they will oppose any attempts to redefine marriage as something other than a union between a man and a woman. They may agree with socialists on the need for social solidarity and the opposition to hard-line market capitalism, but they will not support violent revolution or the doctrine of class struggle that took over leftist movements like the Jacobins or the communists.
Wow, so much for concise... But anyways, that's my opinion on the matter. Do with it what you will, hope it helped. R2Parmly (talk) 00:09, 5 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I think you two are jumping through hoops trying to fool yourselves. The Christian Democrat Parties in Europe have existed in one form or another since the middle of the 18th Century, and they have for the last 30 years been aligned politically with the American Republican Party. They were not formed to inject "Christianity" into politics; they were formed as an alternative for Christians against progressive Socialist and Anarchist parties in Europe, both of which have a deep bias against religion. Please quit trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. You do not have to approve of it for it to be true. It is still true::: 3 Dec 2011. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.186.136.255 (talk) 06:36, 3 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Should Fianna Fail be considered Christian democratic though?Ezhao02 (talk) 02:00, 30 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Split article[edit]

This article ought to be split, remaining inly parties with the explicit name "Christian Democratic Party" and another which would be List of Christian Democratic parties. --Soman 10:26, 3 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If there needs to be a change (which I'm not totally convinced), then this page should be a disambiguation page, and have a second page (with this page's current contents) called "List of political parties advocating Christian Democracy". The name "Christian Democratic" does not have to be in the name for it to be a Christian Democratic party.    GUÐSÞEGN   – UTEX – 05:08, 1 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I agree with Guðsþegn Itake 13:23, 1 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

That link has no information[edit]

As of April 1st, 2006, that link at the bottom of the page referring to the USA Christian Democratic Party has no useful information whatsoever. It merely says "Under Construction" and a lot of dead links. I propose that it be removed.--Offkilter 23:42, 1 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'm working on it. Give me a little time.    GUÐSÞEGN   – UTEX – 03:58, 8 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

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