Is British politics immune to American-style right-wing Christianity? We’re about to find out Lamorna Ash
eEarlier this year, not long after Tommy Robinson I converted to evangelical Christianity While he was in prison, at that time Conservative MP Danny Kruger He spoke in Parliament On the need to restore Britain through a “restoration of Christian politics.” Less than two months later, Krueger joined the Reformation, and shortly thereafter, James Orr, a conservative theologian who had He is described as J.D. Vance The “English Philosopher King” was appointed one of the Reformation’s chief advisors. The party’s leader, Nigel Farage, now makes repeated comments It is necessary In order to return to “Judeo-Christian” values.
The British right is increasingly citing Christian traditions: the question is what it hopes to gain by doing so.
Until recently, there have been no clear British counterparts to political figures on the American right like Vance, a convert to Catholicism for whom religion plays a fundamental political role. With Orr and Krueger, both of whom converted to conservatives evangelical Christianity as adults And attendance Church regularlyWe have some contenders. Krueger said he and Vance agreed to solve the problem.The plight of the WestThere must be a “fundamental revival” of “government and culture”; he believes this can be achieved by a return to Christianity.
As for those who lean to the right, they prefer their Christianity to be more stringent and moderate. Robinson clearly understood the political value of the Christian faith: there was an abundance of Christian symbolism at the far-right “Unite the Kingdom” rally he organized in London in September this year. On stage, pastors gave speeches and performed worship songs, imitating the evangelical mass politics style of the American Christian right.
Robinson’s new faith reflects an important development occurring among European far-right groups, which are shifting the focus of their political messages from race to religion. (Ricky Dolan, a British evangelical minister who witnessed Robinson’s conversion at HMP Woodhill, suggested that Robinson first understood this idea. Political value that Christianity (This could have happened to his movement while attending far-right rallies in Poland.) In its most nationalistic guise, this new racism views Christianity as synonymous with whiteness (never mind that Christianity originated in the Middle East). Other religions, especially Islam, can be repurposed as existential threats, making religion a zero-sum game: either support Christianity, or work to destroy it.
Through this lens, Robinson can reformulate his anti-Islamic politics into a defense of Christianity. At the same time, Kruger can argue that Islam is moving ‘into the space from which Christianity has been expelled’, providing a religious sheen to more general concerns about immigration weakening the imagined ideal of British identity. Much of this thinking involves simplifying both Christianity and Islam, two very complex non-traditional religions. In order to pit entire civilizations against each other, the influential scholar Edward Said wrote, one is required to remake civilizations into what they are not: “Closed entities Purged of the countless currents and counter-currents that drive human history A form of Christianity that What Robinson advocates is a reaction to what he sees as Islam – representing all that is evil, while Christianity represents all that is good.
Powerful supporters and strategists on the American Christian right increasingly see Britain as fertile ground for its movement. Since 2020, US legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has doubled its spending in Britain, and quadrupled the size of its UK team. ADF is known for providing legal advice in high-profile culture war cases in the United States. He was regularly the architect of the overturn in Roe v. Wade Represents clients who are opposed LGBT rights – and is now exporting its methods to the UK.
In recent years, a number of Conservative Christians In the United Kingdom it was Taken to court Due to praying illegally in abortion clinic “buffer zones”, That protects visitors Or working in abortion clinics from harassment. On multiple occasions, these Christians have been provided legal support by the ADF UK branch. This is part of its “long-term strategy to shift public opinion on abortion.” The New York Times reported. By describing such cases as “free speech issues” – a controversial topic in Britain’s so-called culture wars – the ADF believes it can push religious arguments against abortion onto the national stage.
This may seem like a pointless exercise: according to recent opinion polls, the vast majority of British people do I believe abortions should be legal. But public opinion is never static. The relief has begun UK call for 24 weeks The abortion limit is “completely ridiculous.” A survey this summer found that less than half of men are between the ages of 16 and 34 We believe abortion should be legal In all or most cases, compared to about 82% of men between the ages of 55 and 77 – a generational weakness that can be exploited. The issue has always been a particularly salutary cause for the right: in the United States in the 1970s, the New Right movement—which included conservative hardliners and conservative Catholics—realized that abortion could be linked to many perceived social ills, such as women’s liberation and the civil rights movement. Their goal was not only to limit abortions, but also to use abortion as a way to unite disparate camps on the right and legitimize other socially conservative policies.
ADF UK does more than just provide British Christians with legal advice. Farage’s lobbying efforts secured him a seat at the top table on several occasions: thanks to his interventions, in September Give approximately three hours A public appearance before the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C., describing the “horrifically authoritarian” state of free speech in the United Kingdom. ADF also trains student groups in Britain, Hosting seminars On topics such as “The Right to Free Expression on Campus.” Its members appear in the media and write articles for Right-wing press.
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This amazing project to empower conservative Christianity in Britain should serve as a reminder of the fragility of Britain’s largely secular politics. It is also a reminder that anti-trans, anti-LGBT and anti-Islamophobic attitudes do not spring out of nowhere. Public consensus can be manipulated through secret networks with distinct agendas and multi-million dollar budgets.
It is impossible to say which political figures currently professing Christianity do so seriously: fundamentally, faith is a very private experience, generating a wide range of conclusions about the world and our moral duties to each other. In October, Neville Watson, the only black head of the UK Reform branch, defected to the Christian People’s Alliance, a small independent party. After being shocked by the strong presence of Islamophobia at the “Unite the Kingdom” rally, he declared that those attending were promoting “an ideology that is not Christian.” Watson was raised as a socially conservative evangelical Christian. “I’m coming from a very strong Christian, love thy neighbor perspective,” he said at the time. This is the first indicator of the struggle over the meaning of Christianity among the extreme right. It could have major implications for the future of the movement.