newsFormer archbishop says Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson are embracing nationalist Christianity to stir-up anti Muslim feeling in Britain
The cover of the New Humanist magazine showing a cartoon of a character who looks a bit like Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists (BUF) when , in the 1930s, right-wing activists were haters of Jews, not Muslims.
Millions of Muslims will say a prayer of thanks that there are still Christian leaders of the calibre and courage of Dr Rowan Williams in hate-soaked parts of the United Kingdom, says TREVOR GRUNDY
One of Britain’s top theologians has made a stinging attack on two of Britain’s best- known right-wing politicos, Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson.
Dr Rowan Williams was the archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 and 2012. During that time, he was not only numero uno in the Church of England whose Supreme Governor is King Charles 111 but also head of the 77-million strong worldwide Anglican Communion.
During an interview with the New Humanist magazine, Dr Williams (pictured above) was asked why so many right-wing activists were embracing Christianity.
He replied: “I suspect really that Farage and others want to channel anti-Muslim feeling and it helps to have a “We’re a Christian society” to fling back. It gives a sort of ballast.”
The Welsh- born poet and theologian said: “There are lots of possible causes. Anxiety about immigration, anti- Islamism. In France, that anxiety has a secular aspect but the Saint George’s Cross still means something in the English imagination, which still has a Christian aspect.
“The second thing is the globalising of all political disclosures. The message given at international Christian conservative gatherings is that self-respecting nationalist movements need a bit of theology injected into them.
“Ironically, for Nigel Farage (the right-wing leader of the Reform party) it’s about trying to find a presentational strategy that allows him to be taken seriously outside England. He’s often not here, after all.
“Then again, if we are looking for what animates Christian nationalism, I think it’s in part the very simple search for someone to blame.”
Last Easter, the Reform UK leader posted an on-line message to his followers. It said: “The Christian values on which our country is built is something to be proud of.”
But there were some young men and women who turned their back on Britain’s Christian background – “in fact, they loathe much of what we stand for.”
Farage confirmed he was referring to Muslims.
Tommy Robinson was a co-founder of the English Defence League which no longer exists. He left it to support the Quilliam Foundation, the counter terrorism think-tank before its dissolution in 2021. He claims to have found God while imprisoned for contempt of court.
Last year, Reform UK announced the appointment of James Orr, in Donald Trump’s administration, as a senior adviser,” Until then, he was an obscure academic theologian but who now ranks among Reform’s most influential religious ‘influencers.’
Orr’s friendship with U.S. Vice President JD Vance is widely known.
Christianity remains the largest single religion in Britain followed by Islam, Hinduism and Judaism.
There are well over four million Muslims in Britain and about 277,000 Jews.
Farage has not yet reacted to what Dr Williams told the magazine.
Neither has Tommy Robinson, this country’s best known right-wing activist and leading anti-Islamist campaigner
Williams told the magazine: “There’s an inevitable scepticism these days about some claims to religious convictions and I don’t want to give way to this. If Tommy Robinson is doing his best to lead a Christian life, I’m very glad, but I would really want to ask him some awkward questions.
“I would ask him now attempting to lead a life of Christian discipleship squares with public rhetoric designed to produce hostility and violence.”
Trevor Grundy is the author of “Memoir of a Fascist Childhood” (published by William Heinemann, London in 1998 and Arrow Books in 1999). Archbishop Rowan Williams described it as an important book which should be read by anyone with a interest in the the spread of fascism.