Panel: RELIGION AND RIGHT-WING POPULISM: BETWEEN DEMOCRATIC BACKSLIDING AND AUTHORITARIANISM.



878_2.6 - INTERPRETATIONS OF HISTORY IN CONTEMPORARY GERMAN-SPEAKING LEGAL PROTESTANTISM

AUTHORS:
Glatzel M. (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität ~ Jena ~ Germany)
Text:
This paper examines historical narratives within contemporary right-wing Protestantism in Germany. Actors associated with the New Right attempt to reinterpret Christian theology and church history in order to legitimize nationalist and anti-liberal political positions. Figures such as Karlheinz Weißmann and Benjamin Hasselhorn play a central role in this discourse. Both argue that Protestantism has undergone a 'godless decline' since 1945, allegedly caused by liberalization, democratization, and the political engagement of the churches. Their argument relies on a revisionist reading of history. National Protestant traditions of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are portrayed as fundamentally independent from National Socialism, while the post-war reorientation of the Protestant churches - especially the Stuttgarter Schulderklärung - is interpreted as the result of external pressure from the Allies. In this narrative, the churches' turn toward democracy, human rights, and social engagement appears as a betrayal of an allegedly authentic Protestant and "Prussian" tradition. The paper argues that such interpretations are part of a broader strategy of historical revisionism within the New Right. By constructing a tradition that separates conservative Protestantism from the crimes of National Socialism, these authors enable a narrative of decline in which the liberal transformation of the churches becomes the cause of their alleged crisis. These reinterpretations do not remain confined to academic debates but influence contemporary political discourse, for example in church-critical statements by the German far-right party AfD. A critical examination of these narratives shows that they rely on selective readings, omissions, and distortions of historical evidence. The paper therefore argues that confronting such revisionist interpretations is essential for understanding the contemporary intersection of right-wing ideology and Christian theology.