German Left Party Equates Evangelical Christians With Jihadists

The Left Party in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, has published an election platform pledging to "resolutely combat" religious fundamentalism "whether of a Christian evangelical or jihadist nature," grouping evangelical Christians with Islamist terrorism. A CDU parliamentarian and religious freedom commissioner condemned the equivalence as an outrageous defamation, noting the party's origins as successor to East Germany's ruling communist party, which persecuted Christians and dissidents. The platform illustrates a growing willingness in European politics to frame theologically exclusive Christian faith as a public danger requiring state intervention alongside violent extremism.