On Tuesday, October 1st, Dr. Marrku Ruotsila, a visiting professor at LCC International University, will speak about Trump and The Christian Right.
“I am aware that this topic and the ideas are controversial issues, but someone has to talk about them. Of course, the discussion is solely based on research, not just opinion. I have written several books on the Christian Right in the United States. Most people in Europe seem to think that the Christian Right should not support Donald Trump in any way. This is why I am explaining this idea to Europeans because the context is different,” explained Dr. Marrku Ruotsila. “The Christian Right does not support Trump as a person, but they support the actual policies he has implemented. However, in my paper, I am arguing that the problem is much deeper than that. Trump has an unsystematic way of doing things, but he has consistently over a long period of time, he has argued for a sense of America; what the nation really is and should be. Actually, this is very close to what members of the Christian Right affiliated organizations and churches think America should be. There are actually two different ideas of what America is. Those trying to impeach Trump say that he betrayed his country, and this is their vision. For the other Americans, including the Christian Right, the sense of America is very different. They think Trump hasn’t betrayed it, and that he is doing exactly what he should be doing.”
The open lecture by Dr. Ruotsila about “Trump and The Christian Right” will take place at LCC International University, Kretingos gatvė 36, in Kaminskienė Hall, on October 1st, at 12:00.
Dr. Markku Ruotsila has been a Research Fellow at the Center for Faith and Human Flourishing at LCC International University since 2018. Dr. Ruotsila received his MA from the University of Tampere, Finland, and his Ph.D. in History from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. After completing his degrees, he has worked as a Finnish Academy Research Fellow, as a Visiting Fellow at the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford, and as Visiting Scholar at the Center for the United States and the Cold War, New York University, and at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
He taught U.S. Church and Political History regularly at the University of Helsinki since 2006, where he is an adjunct professor (docent) in North American Church History, and at the University of Tampere, where he has been an adjunct professor (docent) of American and British History since 2002.
His research interests are in the history of evangelicalism and fundamentalism in the U.S. and transnationally, as well as in the political history of modern conservatism. Currently, he is working on research regarding a Transnational History of Christian Fundamentalism and the Christian Right during the Cold War.