Christian democracy is a political ideology that seeks to apply Christian principles to public policy. It emerged in nineteenth-century Europe under the influence of conservatism and Catholic social teaching. It continues to be influential in Europe and Latin America, though in a number of countries its Christian ethos has been diluted by secularisation.

In practice, Christian democracy is often considered conservative on cultural, social and moral issues (social conservatism) and advocates a social market economy in the economic field (crossing over with social democratic economics but based on the family). In Europe, where their opponents have traditionally been secularist socialists, Christian democratic parties are moderately conservative overall, whereas in the very different cultural and political environment of Latin America they tend to lean to the left.

Examples of Christian democratic parties include the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Christian Democrat Party of Chile, the Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland, the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) in the Netherlands, and the historical Christian Democracy in Italy.

Frederick John "Fred" Nile (born 15 September 1934) is an Australian politician and clergyman. Nile has been a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since 1981, except for a period in 2004 when he resigned to contest (unsuccessfully) the Australian Senate at the 2004 federal election. Nile was re-elected for another term at the March 2007 state election and is currently Assistant President of the Legislative Council. As the longest-serving member of the New South Wales parliament, he holds the unofficial position of Father of the House and has announced his decision to retire in 2015.

Nile was born in Kings Cross, New South Wales and was educated at Mascot Public and Cleveland Street High School (1940–1949). In 1952, during the Korean War, he (then only 17) volunteered to join the Australian Army where he served until 1953. He then transferred to the CMF / reserves and reached the rank of Major. OC., D Coy, 4 RNSW Regt, Merrylands before retiring in 1972. Nile attended the Congregational Theological College; the Melbourne College of Divinity; the United Faculty of Theology; the University of Sydney (Adult Matriculation) and the University of New England. He also attended lectures (MA Politics) at Macquarie University but did not complete his degree except for the Theological Tertiary Course (L.Th).

Per Jimmie Åkesson (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈjɪmɪ ˈoːkɛ.ˈsɔn]; born 17 May 1979) is a Swedish politician. He is the current leader of the Sweden Democrats and a member of the Swedish parliament following the 2010 general election.

Jimmie Åkesson was born in Ivetofta, Sweden, but grew up in Sölvesborg, Blekinge County. He was a member of the Moderate Youth League, the youth wing of the Moderate Party, for a short while before he joined the old Sweden Democratic Youth Association (the youth wing of the Sweden Democrats) in 1995. The same year he also co-founded a local chapter of the Sweden Democratic Youth Association. In 1997 he was elected as a deputy member of the party board. The party's policies that he was most attracted to at first were its view on the European Union, and its policy on immigration.

In 1998, at the age of 19, Åkesson was elected to public office as a councilman in Sölvesborg Municipality. The same year, he also became deputy chairman of the newly established Sweden Democratic Youth (Sverigedemokratisk Ungdom), and later, from 2000 to 2005, was chairman of the organization. In 2005, he defeated party leader Mikael Jansson in a party election to become the party leader of the Sweden Democrats.

Bo Göran Hägglund (born 27 January 1959, Degerfors, Värmland) is a Swedish politician and the current Minister for Health and Social Affairs in Sweden since 2006. He is the leader of the Christian Democrats of Sweden (Swedish: Kristdemokraterna). He was elected Party Leader on 3 April 2004, succeeding Alf Svensson.

Hägglund was born in Degerfors in central Sweden, but moved to Jönköping, a Christian Democratic stronghold, with his family in 1978.

He started his political career in the Christian Democratic youth organisation. From 1978 he was employed by the party, first as ombudsman for the local Christian Democratic Youth, and from 1981 for the regional party branch. From 1982 to 1986 he was also a member of the Municipal Council in Jönköping.

Following the 1985 elections, he started to work as parliamentary secretary for the Christian Democrats. In 1988 he temporarily left politics to start working for an insurance company. In the parliamentary elections of 1991 he was elected a Member of Parliament.

The Courage (formerly known as "Noah Gundersen & the Courage") is an indie band initially started in Centralia, Washington by siblings Abby & Noah Gundersen and expanded to Travis Ehrenstrom and Ivan Gunderson. The group has two EPs, a live CD, and a studio album. Before the removal of Noah Gundersen's name from the title and the incorporation of the entire band, a majority of the songs were written and recorded by Noah and Abby.

Noah Gundersen began playing music when he was 10 or 11 years old when his parents had him take piano lessons. Later he taught himself to play the guitar and recorded songs with his father's recording equipment. Around the age of 16, Noah was performing solo in local cafes. His sister Abby began to accompany him with violin and harmonies in 2006 . Noah Gundersen & the Courage began in 2006 in Centralia, Washington. They began playing shows throughout the Washington/Oregon region, and quickly gained a fan base there. Noah's first CD, "Brand New World" (recorded by himself, Abby Gundersen, and Michael Porter) was recorded in Eugene, Oregon in a home studio. It began to be sold on the internet in 2008. That summer, an internet hacker named "andrewlandon" discovered Noah Gundersen's music and stole his song "Winter" (as well has three songs by a neighboring musician, Jacob White, and several other artists) and put it on his own MySpace.