What are the distinctive features of Christian democracy Essay

What are the distinctive features of Christian democracy - Essay Example A Christian democratic government is therefore reform-minded on national economic and fiscal issues. The Christian democrats in Europe more or less follow their Christian leanings and try to apply this in their governmental policies when formulating these policies. But on the other hand, the Christian democrats in other parts of the world (such as in Latin America) are more inclined to the left-of-centre in their political views while their European counterparts can be said to be located towards the right-of-centre of the political spectrum. However, both type of Christian democrats can be said to favour using Christian teachings in their policies. This short paper discusses the distinctive features of a Christian democratic institution. Hopefully, it will enlighten the reader on the various shades of what constitutes the Christian democracy as it is being practised today and help understand how current world events often are shaped by the views of these Christian democratic governments in power. Conservatism and Christian democracy are almost the same in many respects, except for their perceived link to organised religion and the adoption of religious values (Hanley, 1996:32). Christian democracy is primarily an attempt to apply humanitarian principles in matter of political thought. However, because Christian democracy embraces a lot of different ideas, it is sometimes very difficult to categorize it into a single clear-cut ideology. In other words, a political ideology like Christian democracy can significantly evolve over a period of time and in their different political landscapes or context. It has elements in it that are sometimes more in common with conservatism, liberalism and even socialism. These features make it difficult to classify it as a specific ideology but these same features make it distinctive. Traditional Moral Values – the ideology of Christian democracy,