A former archbishop of Canterbury has accused Nigel Farage of misusing the UK’s Christianity “to channel anti-Muslim feeling” and said he also had “some awkward questions” for the far-right activist Tommy Robinson. Dr Rowan Williams, who was the archbishop of Canterbury for 10 years until 2012, said there was an “inevitable scepticism these days about some claims to religious conviction”. Speaking to the New Humanist magazine, Williams said: “I suspect really that Farage and others want to channel anti-Muslim feeling, and it helps to have ‘we’re a Christian society’ to fling back.
It gives a sort of ballast.” Asked what he believed was driving Christian nationalism in the UK, Williams said: “There are lots of possible causes. Anxiety about migration, anti-Islamism. In France, that anxiety has a secular aspect, but the St George’s Cross still means something in the English imagination, which still has a Christian aspect.
The message given at international Christian conservative gatherings is that self-respecting nationalist movements need a bit of theology injected into them. He’s often not here, after all. He confirmed he was referring to Muslims.
Earlier this year, Farage criticised an iftar in Trafalgar Square, saying the religious fast-breaking event in London was an “attempt to overtake, intimidate and dominate our way of life”. Last year, Reform UK announced the appointment of the theologian James Orr – an academic who has influenced Donald Trump’s US administration – as a senior adviser to Farage. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has spoken about taking Bible studies while in jail and said he was now a Christian, having grown up Catholic but not practised.
In December, he led a carol concert to “put the Christ back into Christmas” and his Unite the Kingdom march in London earlier this year saw some participants carry wooden crosses and chant “Christ is king”. Williams told the magazine: “There’s an inevitable scepticism these days about some claims to religious conviction, and I don’t want to give way to this. If Tommy Robinson is doing his best to lead a life of Christian discipleship, I’m very glad, but I would really want to ask him some awkward questions.
I may be doing the man an injustice, but I don’t believe he cares about profound theological questions.”
Extract — continue reading at the source.
