“Over the last several years something interesting
happened: Authoritarians found God. They used religious symbols as nationalist
identity markers and rallying cries. They unified the masses behind them by
whipping up perpetual culture wars. They reframed the global debate: It was no
longer between democracy and dictatorship; it was between the moral decadence
of Western elites and traditional values and superior spirituality of the good
normal people in their own homelands.
“The 21st century is turning into an era of
globe-spanning holy wars at a time when the appeal of actual religion seems to
be on the wane.”—Columnist David Brooks, “When Dictators Find God,” The New
York Times, Sept. 10, 2021
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