Religion 'becoming political tool in right wing populist Europe'

Islam replaced communism as the "other" in terms of ideology, and as a result Europe is becoming more Christian because of the growing hatred against any kind of Islam, Professor Ayhan Kaya has said. Europe is becoming more Christian culturally, not religiously, according to Kaya, who defines the Islamophobes voting for right-wing populist parties as "Christian atheists."
Your book "Populism and Heritage in Europe" and "European Memory in Populism," which you have co-edited with Chiara De Cesari from the University of Amsterdam are out. Tell us, who should read these books?
Those who really want to understand, without any judgement, the reasons behind the rise of right-wing populist rhetoric and why some people are becoming affiliated with this rhetoric should read them.
What should we understand of populism?
Populist leaders have common denominators. They have a Manichean world, dividing everything in two: Good or bad; the believers and the unbelievers. It is either "you are one of us or against us."
They try to underline their similarities with individuals of everyday life to give the message "I am one of you." But their communication strategies try to underline the extraordinariness of their characters.
They are explicitly against all kinds of institutions. According to them institutions are barriers between them and people.
They all live in crisis. Their concern is not to have a cohesive policy, all their concern is to sustain their power.
Can we say that religion and migration are used as tools to polarize especially in the context of European populist leaders?
Europe on average is becoming more Islamophobic. I explain in the book extensively that Islamophobia is not...

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