--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We have plenty of examples from…" description: "\"We have plenty of examples from twentieth-century history where, out of fear of liberalism or Communism, religious conservatives made alliances with se..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dcb/ross-douthat-2949_communism_we-have-plenty-of-examples-from-twentiet_745020.jpg" --- # We have plenty of examples from twentieth-century history… ![“We have plenty of examples from twentieth-century history where, out of fear of liberalism or Communism, religious conservatives made alliances with secular populists and nationalists, and it ended up going pretty badly for everybody.” quote by Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dcb/ross-douthat-2949_communism_we-have-plenty-of-examples-from-twentiet_745020.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dcb/ross-douthat-2949_communism_we-have-plenty-of-examples-from-twentiet_745020.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dcb/ross-douthat-2949_communism_we-have-plenty-of-examples-from-twentiet_745020.jpg) > “We have plenty of examples from twentieth-century history where, out of fear of liberalism or Communism, religious conservatives made alliances with secular populists and nationalists, and it ended up going pretty badly for everybody.” [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Historical alliances between religious conservatives and secular populists often backfired. **In simple terms:** Such alliances usually end badly. Key Takeaway Beware of compromising core values for political gain. Themes politics history ideology Mood cautious analytical Type political historical When to use this quote - policy making - voting decisions - activism Key Concepts coalition dynamics extremism Questions to Reflect On - When have similar alliances succeeded? - What alternatives exist to avoid negative outcomes? A Different Perspective The quote may overlook successful alliances in other contexts. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Alliances Secular](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alliances-secular-5808755/) [Communism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/communism/) [Communism Religious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/communism-religious-5808756/) [Fear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fear/) [Fear Liberalism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fear-liberalism-5808754/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Liberalism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/liberalism/) [Religious Conservatives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religious-conservatives-502669/) [Secular Populists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/secular-populists-5808753/) [Up](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/up/) ## Related quotes > [Independent of the critique I'm making, I'm just trying to paint a more comprehensive portrait of American religion than you get from a right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/independent-of-the-critique-i-m-making-i-m-just-trying-to-paint-a/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [I am not a post-liberal and I do not think that such a return to full 19th-century anticlericalism inevitable or even likely - which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/i-am-not-a-post-liberal-and-i-do-not-think-that-such-a-return-to-full/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [It is beneficial for Turkish democracy that not all religious conservatives are united under one banner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mustafa-akyol/it-is-beneficial-for-turkish-democracy-that-not-all-religious/) [Mustafa Akyol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mustafa-akyol/) > [I am dead against trying to keep religious conservatives out of the political debate. The tactic of exclusion is self-defeating.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harvey-cox/i-am-dead-against-trying-to-keep-religious-conservatives-out-of-the/) [Harvey Cox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harvey-cox/) > [When I was growing up, it was the religious conservatives that had the moral panic about music and swear words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-pool/when-i-was-growing-up-it-was-the-religious-conservatives-that-had-the/) [Tim Pool](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-pool/) > [There is one group of people - social conservatives, religious conservatives - who honestly feel that women's place is in the home and that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-coontz/there-is-one-group-of-people-social-conservatives-religious/) [Stephanie Coontz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-coontz/) > [“This book aims, in part, to help reverse the lamentable public retreat of religious liberals in recent decades. Yet, religious liberalism on the whole…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-b-rasor/this-book-aims-in-part-to-help-reverse-the-lamentable-public-retreat/) [Paul B. Rasor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-b-rasor/) > [The Boy Scouts of America is no longer entirely what people think it is. 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But,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/i-think-it-is-fair-in-a-way-to-describe-certain-forms-of-marxism-for/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) ## More by Ross Douthat > [Human beings seek community, and permanent openness is hard to sustain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/human-beings-seek-community-and-permanent-openness-is-hard-to-sustain/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [The American intelligentsia has been pretty secular for a long time. There have always been figures like Oprah Winfrey, let's put it that way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/the-american-intelligentsia-has-been-pretty-secular-for-a-long-time/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [On the evidence we have, the meritocratic ideal ends up being just as undemocratic as the old emphasis on inheritance and tradition, and it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/on-the-evidence-we-have-the-meritocratic-ideal-ends-up-being-just-as/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [“The physical vanity of the diet-and-exercise obsessive is recast as the pursuit of a kind of ritual purity, hedged about with taboos and guilt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/the-physical-vanity-of-the-diet-and-exercise-obsessive-is-recast-as/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [There were times at Harvard when I actually longed to hang out with a few more Trotskyists, rather than yet another set of future…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/there-were-times-at-harvard-when-i-actually-longed-to-hang-out-with-a/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [Many things about American life, that even secular people consider good, have flowed from the presence of a robust, resilient institutional Christianity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-douthat/many-things-about-american-life-that-even-secular-people-consider/) [Ross Douthat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-douthat/) > [“What he felt during his Spanish encounter with left-wing anti-Christianity was similar to his reactions to the anti-Christianity of the right. 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