Pulling the Emergency Brake! : Why the Far Right is Successful in Juxtaposing Christianity against Islam in Secular Europe

This dissertation explores the relationship between religion and the European far-right landscape. It investigates the question why the anti-immigration discourse of the European far right is based on the usage of religious contra-identities that oppose Christianity to Islam as different and mutually exclusive religious identities (‘The Christian Europe’ vs. ‘The Muslim Other’). Why does religion feature so prominently within contemporary far-right discourse, when Europe is characterised by an increasing process of secularisation? Moreover, it investigates how religious contra-identities function within far-right political discourse. How are they constructed and how are they related to one another? This study uses an interdisciplinary method to answer these research questions, combining theoretical notions from the academic fields of political philosophy, religious studies and sociology with data analysis on the social media platform of TikTok. It argues that the far right functions as an emergency brake to European citizens due to an increased feeling of existential insecurity. Processes of secularisation, individualisation and (neoliberal) globalisation have led to an increasing complexity of Western societies that has resulted in a loss of identity, a loss of control and an accelerating speed of change, which have contributed to feelings of existential insecurity among European citizens.