Secular-Religious Party Cleavage Going Online? The Relevance of Antisemitism in Discourses of European Political Elites

New digital technologies alter various societal spheres, including the landscape of religion and politics. “Christianity influencers,” faith tweets, digital chaplaincy and online Islamic hate speech are notable examples in place. The rapidly growing body of scholarship known as digital religion studies explores the extent to which traditional religious practices are being adapted to digital environments. However, while this nascent field profits from interdisciplinary perspectives, the political dimension of this transformation is still underdeveloped. Specifically, it is unclear how political actors refer to religion during online campaigning across Europe and whether the existing patterns reflect “classical offline divides” between secular and religious parties. Building on the findings of a large-n study (Euchner et al. 2025) of European politicians’ X (formerly Twitter) profiles, the underlying paper will sheet a specific light on the relevance of Judaism and antisemitism in discourses of European elites, and its structuring role of online conflicts. In so doing, the paper will advance existing research on religion and party politics through its fresh perspective on religion outside classical arenas of political conflict and inside important alternative venues of political competition.