Dear Editor,
I am writing in response to David Shepherd’s article on “Christian Nationalism and far-right exclusivism” [see the article here].
As someone who attended the Unite the Kingdom rally in Whitehall on 13 September it was depressing to see an event with 150,000 or so (BBC figures) bracketed as Christian “nationalist and far-right”.
The vast majority of people there had little religious affiliation and merely tolerated the “religious stuff” – the gospel choir, etc. – as at least a nod to some very diluted British identity. The approval for the ridiculous call to ban unwelcome foreign religions was just one minor expression of a deep frustration and anger. And it’s an anger fuelled by mass migration, despite the mounting evidence that mass migration demonstrably does not serve the common good. It might pay to listen.
Yours sincerely,
Ian Cooper
By email
We asked David Shepherd to respond. He said: Describing the Unite the Kingdom rally as heavily influenced by far-right “Christian nationalism” is valid because the event went beyond merely “tolerating” religious stuff. The Crusader imagery was prevalent, as was Tommy Robinson’s self-proclaimed Christian conversion. Rather than a minor outburst, the call to ban “unwelcome [sic] foreign religions” was just one example of the cultural exclusivism that is central to far-right ideology. The “deep frustration and anger” has been fuelled by alarmist ‘cherry- picking’ of statistics. In stark contrast with that, the common good would be better served by authentic evidence-based policy and Britain’s historic commitment to religious freedom.
