Church, The Far Right, and The Claim to Christianity
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In 2015 the United Kingdom Independence Party published a ‘Christian Manifesto’ in preparation for the general elections, with the title Valuing our Christian Heritage. In 2014, the far-right organisation Britain First invaded mosques across the UK with army-issued Bibles. The intruders called it a ‘Christian crusade’. More recently they have released a film of themselves invading so-called ‘migrant hotels’ to hassle the residents there. In recent years in the UK the public resistance offered to far-right rhetoric from official church sources has been rather wan. Likewise, there is a dearth of resources offering constructive ways for the church to respond to hate crime or racial tension in their area. This book seeks to step into this gap. This volume brings together perspectives from theologians, church practitioners, and leading voices to respond to reflect on how the church has responded to the rise in far right thinking in UK society, and to ask how it could respond better. With a foreword by David Gushee
Much has been written on the use of Christian tropes by far-right extremists, from cross burnings going back decades to more recent adoption of Crusader themes by “lone wolf” terrorists. This research is vital, but usually neglects Christian responses to this ongoing appropriation. This too has a venerable history but is rarely addressed; and almost never via a scholarly framework. The Church, the Far Right, and the Claim to Christianity makes clear that churches of all denominations are not without agency in countering this cynical embrace of Christianity. Such a volume is both overdue and massively welcome, particularly in the context of a “post-Christian” Britain – one arguably still coming to terms with just what that entails. In exploring just what such Christian agency entails, and how it might motivate Christian action against far-right appropriations of Christianity, Paynter and Power take direct aim at this fraught subject with great sensitivity and insight. Across a dozen robust chapters addressing this issue, we hear from theologians and clerics, interfaith activists and peacebuilders, scholars and educators. While their findings are varied and nuanced, ranging across timely themes including interfaith collaboration and practitioner experiences, a chorus nevertheless emerges over the course of this edited collection. Its refrain is powerfully captured in the conclusion to this volume: Christians need to face up to the seriousness of this problem, engage in genuine spiritual reflection; and be both ‘bold truth-tellers, standing up unashamedly for the cause of all who are marginalized’ and ‘gracious dialogue partners’ instead of demoni[zing] those we disagree with’. These are wise words in a wise volume, which deserves a wide readership amongst Christians and, indeed, all those concerned about far-right visibility today in Britain – and beyond. -- Matthew Feldman