Don’t exploit the Christian message for your populist politics, church leader warns Tommy Robinson
The Church must resist the exploitation of Christianity by far-right populists such as Tommy Robinson, a bishop said ahead of a caroling event organized by the anti-immigrant activist.
The Right Rev. Arun Arora, bishop of Kirkstall and joint leader of the Church of England (CofE) on racial justice, warned that the Church must take action to “resist the takeover of Christian language and symbols by populist forces seeking to exploit the faith for their own political purposes.”
C of E will launch a poster campaign aimed at countering the increasing use of Christianity for a nationalist and anti-immigrant agenda.
Posters to be displayed at bus stops include the phrases “Jesus was always at Christmas” and “Strangers are welcome.” They are part of a suite of resources that local churches can download and view in response to far-right rhetoric.
A coalition of church groups called the Joint Public Issues Team, including the C of E, the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist church and the United Reformed Church, has created a “rapid response” resource for churches, with a call to focus specifically on Sunday, December 14, the day after Tommy Robinson’s Whitehall event.
Mr Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, organized a follow-up event to the massive Unite the Kingdom march, which saw more than 100,000 people join what was billed as a “free speech” protest and included a speech from Elon Musk to the crowd expressing his anger at the “woke mind virus”.
Following the flare-up of violence, police were attacked and dozens of people were arrested.
This time, he organized an event called ‘Unity for Christ This Christmas’, promising Bible readings, live music and testimonies of faith. According to details posted on social media platform X, it aims to “bring Jesus back to Christmas.”
Speaking about Tommy Robinson’s campaign to “take back” Christmas, Bishop Arun said: “I am delighted that Stephen Yaxley Lennon recently came to faith in prison. Having experienced the vast mercy of God’s grace, Stephen no longer has the right to deny it to others.”
“Having embraced and accepted God’s welcome, he can no longer limit it to others who may be equally lost. Nor does he have the right to subvert his faith to serve his own purposes rather than the other way around.”
He warned: “We must oppose and resist the takeover of Christian language and symbols by populist forces that seek to exploit the faith for their own political purposes. In the final words of Rowan Williams, it is the duty of the church to ‘challenge the narrative that every immigrant who approaches our shores is a hostile alien with incomprehensible and hostile values.'”
“The danger for an inactive Church is that we will be reduced to a people who offer religious practices as an alternative to an active pursuit of justice and righteousness.
“As we approach Christmas and remember the Holy Family’s flight as refugees, we reaffirm our determination to work with others for a system of refuge based on the just, compassionate and human dignity of the time of Jesus’ incarnation, which is at the heart of the Christmas message.”
Since his release from prison in May this year, Mr. Robinson has used Christianity in his messages; Christian symbols such as wooden crosses are widely used at the first UK rally in September.
UKIP leader Nick Tenconi has also intertwined Christianity with his party’s anti-immigrant policies, highlighting the Christian identity politics of the organisation, which was once home to Nigel Farage.
Mr Tenconi is also a key figure in Turning Point UK, a right-wing student political group affiliated with Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA.
Mr Robinson is organizing the caroling event for December 13, while the initiative, called Shine Your Light, aims to get 200,000 Christians singing hymns in public spaces across the UK and Ireland on the same weekend.
