This article seems to say “yes”.
I have long seen this connection between authoritarian religion in the US (meaning conservative evangelicals, Christian fundamentalists, leading to Christian Nationalism) and the increasing number of authoritarian sympathizers and high political polarization.
Of particular interest to me in this article is the desire for authoritarians to have simple answers to complex questions. This is a natural consequence of things like Divine Command Theory, which encourages unquestioning obedience to God, who is in conservative Christian interpretive systems, an authoritarian figure, and generally represented by authoritarian … well, authorities.
“Do as you’re told” seems natural to such people, and so it makes sense that their servile capitulation to people telling them what to do will produce (or at least facilitate) the kind of politics we’re currently enduring in the US.
Especially since evangelicals are about a third of the US population. as of 2016 (though more recent estimates are below 25%, it’s still high).
I’m wondering how much is authoritarianism breeding authoritarianism, and how much is authoritarians banding together.
I’m trying to get at what is making more authoritarians TO band together.
There are, of course, other factors, because authoritarian movements are afoot all over the world. One other major factor is what is often described, perhaps in a bit overdetermined fashion, as “the failure of the liberal experiement”. Which is a fancy way of saying that liberalism has made promises it has widely failed to keep, because liberals have abandoned the working class and become wed to the same wealthy sponsors as the right.
But the uniquely high percentage of Americans that are authoritarian Christians seems to be particularly problematic for us. Canada and Australia have, for the moment at least, failed to repeat our mistake, despite some of the same dynamics being in play as in the US. In fact we appear to have been a wakeup call for those countries. And Germany is cracking down on the AfD, getting out in front of the spiritual successor to the old Nazi Party gaining ground in that country.
Meanwhile we are just foundering around here, the courts are getting ignored / railroaded, and popular protest movements are slow to form and build to any sort of critical mass. The opposition party (Democrats) are befuddled and confused and unsure how to proceed, rife with internal factions. Much of this is IMO because we don’t understand this authoritarian religious dynamic and how it must be dealt with.