A prayer walk was held in Hyde Park in London, a week ago today, according to the Church Times, to reclaim the St George’s flag and other Christian symbols, from right wing groups who are increasingly using them as a pseudo religious crusade against immigration. Participants in the walk included former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, other bishops, clergy, and lay people.
The walk paused at the Commonwealth Memorial Gates which commemorate the men and women from the Indian subcontinent, Africa, the Caribbean, and other Commonwealth countries who died in the Second World War. Here a large cross of woven red poppies and roses was held in front of a white memorial stone, making the likeness of a St George’s flag.
One participant in the walk said: “The act of creating the St George’s flag in this way was done to reclaim the flag as an inclusive symbol for Britain, and to ensure that, as a Christian emblem, it reflects the Christian principle of loving thy neighbour.”
Lord Williams said: “It is more than time to challenge the story that every migrant approaching our shores is an unfriendly alien with unintelligible and hostile values. It is essential for us to see, not enemy invaders, but vulnerable people like us, committed to finding safety for themselves and those they love. It is the height of injustice to hold communities responsible for the crimes of individuals and to market lazy, hurtful, stereotypes.” He continued: “Christian culture, about which we hear so much from some quarters, is based simply on the recognition that we share common human needs and that we are given strength and generosity in Christ’s Spirit to serve those needs wherever they appear, and to welcome the gifts that strangers offer us.”
Only a day earlier SkyNews had reported on how right-wing groups were now using Christian symbols, including the cross, in their march against immigration – a rise of Christian nationalism, that they referred to as “a new type of Christianity – more militant, more political”.
They quoted a self-styled ‘Bishop’, Ceirion Dewar, who represents this pseudo Christianity: “We are a Christian culture, a Christian nation”, he said. “And I do feel like we have lost a lot of that,” a loss that he appeared to be attributing to a connection between immigration and the influence of Islam.
According to Sky, Dewar had previously addressed the 150,000-strong crowd at the Unite the Kingdom march in London, where he shared the stage with Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson. Bishop’s crook in hand, his voice thundered out: “God, you have not abandoned Britain!” A year previously at another rally in Whitehall, he said: “This nation of ours is under attack! We are at war! We are at war not just with the Muslim, not just with wokeness.”
What do we feel about this? It is reminiscent of the Ku Klux Klan with their flaming crosses, or more recently of the links between Donald Trump and certain evangelical churches in the US, or, indeed, the apparent alliance between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Kremlin. Yes, Christianity is political, but it is not party political and it is certainly not systemically hostile to either immigrants or Islam. What we are seeing is a misuse of Christian symbols for a narrow and hostile political purpose.
Read the Church Times article here. Read the SkyNews article here.