The Demon in Democracy: Totalitarian Temptations in Free Societies with Ryszard Legutko

Hank Unplugged: Essential Christian Conversations

Professor Ryszard Legutko lived and suffered under communism for decades and fought in the Polish anti-communist movement to abolish it. Having now live for over two decades under a liberal democracy, Legutko has discovered that liberal democracy and communism have more in common than one might think. Professor Legutko joins Hank Hanegraaff to discuss The Demon in Democracy, as Legutko explains how liberal democracy has slowly tilted toward the same goals as communism, albeit without Soviet-style brutality. Having escaped the horrors of communism Legutko understands just how critical it is for Western Christians to understand the threats that lie buried within the systems we’ve long considered safe and learn to recognize The Demon in Democracy. https://www.equip.org/product/cri-resource-cri2101hup/
Topics discussed include: What are the similarities between communism and liberal democracy? (3:30); the problem when everything is political (8:30); modernization projects, the myth of progress and the continued influence of the Enlightenment (13:30); how the West plans to deliver on the failed promises of Communism (17:55); a modern society that is consumed with entertainment and self-hatred (20:10); Black Lives Matter and the ulterior motives of the movement such as the disruption of the nuclear family—because family is often the enemy of modern revolutionary ideology (23:25); the continued shift to the left in “mainstream politics” and the exclusion of conservatives (30:00); the manipulation of language and the problem with changing the meanings of words and concepts in a society (35:35); identity politics and communism (40:20); multiculturalism and social engineering (43:25); the global reaction to Hungary defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman (48:05); reducing everything to the ideological triad of class, race and gender (51:30); the paradox of equality (54:45); religion, conservatism and the family as common enemies of liberal democracy and communism (59:25); killing God, the worship of man and why socialists and communists have always hated religion (1:03:05); the dangerous naivety of progressive, liberal Christianity (1:06:50); the delusion of conciliatory Christians and capitulatory Christians (1:09:05); a stunning statement made by Legutko in The Demon in Democracy (1:11:30); what does resistance look like today? (1:15:00); Ryszard Legutko’s new book The Cunning of Freedom: Saving the Self in an Age of False Idols (1:17:30); the experience of Ryszard Legutko as a member in the European Parliament (1:18:25).
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