A number of Christian leaders across UK have launched campaigns to challenge Christian nationalism ahead of Tommy Robinson’s vow to “put Christ back into Christmas” at a carols event this weekend.
Rev Dr Helen Paynter, Executive Director of the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence, shared her concerns with Premier Christian News that the slogan could be “feeding a political agenda".
Dozens of senior church leaders condemned the use of Christian symbols at Robinson’s ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally in September.
A poster campaign led by Bishop Arun Arora, the Bishop of Kirkstall, aims to counter anti-migrant sentiment and instead display “messages of hope and welcome to all this Christmas,” according to the Diocese of Leeds.
Messages such as “Christ has always been in Christmas” and “Christmas started with love” will appear on posters at bus stops and churches.
Bishop Arora said: “We must confront and resist the capture of Christian language and symbols by populist forces seeking to exploit the faith for their own political ends.”
The campaigns are part of a wider effort by churches to respond to what has been described as the “co-option of Christmas by the far right". The Joint Public Issues Team—a partnership between the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist Church, and the United Reformed Church—has established a “rapid response resource” for churches to “discern faithful ways forward.”
It aims to help communities “resist agendas of division and hostility” and “celebrate Christmas with a clear message of love for all our neighbours".
Ahead of Robinson’s service, Rev. Paynter told Premier Christian News that the “narrative of returning to a Christian nation [is] a thin veneer for something that is actually far darker than it might sound. Something that is hostile to people of other faiths, something that potentially promotes violence.”
She pointed to “political sloganing” in some of the language used to promote the event - the video announcing the event called on “believers, families and patriots… to stand together".
The event description claimed it “marks the beginning of a new Christian revival in the UK - a moment to reclaim and celebrate our heritage, culture, and Christian identity".
On how those who disagree with the service should respond, Rev. Paynter urged people not to “match that sort of rhetoric with equally polemical, aggressive rhetoric of our own. Let’s not respond to an attempt to politicise the Christmas story by counter-politicising the story".
Minister Ricky Doolan, a supporter of Robinson and the Unite the Kingdom movement, wrote on X: “I detect jealousy from the CofE. How can any church be mad at anyone promoting Jesus Christ at Christmas.”