The Unite the Kingdom rally held on Sept. 13 in Central London was one of the largest demonstrations in recent British history. Police claim 150,000 people marched through central London protesting. Others say the number of marchers was much higher.
The sea of British Union Jacks and the distinctive Cross of St. George flags made a big impression on the Church of England. Unfortunately, it wasn't a very good one.
The Church of England and other Christian leaders issued a statement condemning the march and the crosses the marchers used. “The Cross and the Gospel of Christ must never be co-opted to support the messages that breed hostility towards others.”
Apparently, defending national sovereignty is now something akin to a sin. Many Anglican bishops, leading Baptists, Methodists, and representatives of other denominations signed the statement.
The Cross of St. George has been a symbol of English sovereignty since the crusades, 1,500 years ago. King Richard marched to Jerusalem with the flag at the head of his army. The Church of (maybe) England says it's "co-opting" Christianity.
“Any co-opting or corrupting of the Christian faith to exclude others is unacceptable.”
They exclude themselves by refusing to assimilate into British society. And if those "others" are in the country illegally, it is legally necessary to "exclude" them.
The churchmen are elitists who fear the masses of middle and lower-class English who don't share their expansive view of immigration and narrow view of national sovereignty.
The vast majority of our political, state and cultural establishment — and that includes Anglican bishops — can barely hide their fear at best, and contempt at worst, for what they see as an undifferentiated mass of poorly educated bigots who populate much of the country outside of the big cities. The instinctive distaste of the Anglican leadership for the provincial working classes and lower middle classes, with their low-status opinions and “nativism”, is conveyed pretty clearly, even when their statements are carefully caveated with bromides about “legitimate debate”. And the provincial populists, the Red Wallers and nascent Reform UK voters, are not stupid. They sense that distaste very clearly.
Bishops and liberal Christian leaders would do well to remember that Christianity is the religion of illiterate fishermen and provincials as well as the religion of the Guardian readers who inhabit episcopal palaces and vicarages across the country.
In truth, the Anglican clergymen can't seem to make up their minds about why it's bad to use the cross as a national symbol.
"The Cross of Christ reveals God’s overwhelming and unconditional love for every single human being. The Cross calls us to love our land and its communities and to serve its well-being. But, equally, we are called to love members of other nations too," the Church of England statement says.
Serving England's "well-being" means limiting the number of immigrants, or at least vetting them before allowing them to live in England. We can love people of other nations from afar, without having them sit in our laps.
Instead, the Church of England equates opposition to immigration with a violation of the teachings of Christ.
The Muslim publication 5 Pillars sees the work of "crusaders" in the crowd. Yes, there were a few marchers dressed as "crusaders," wearing St. George's cross on their tunic, but how many in that vast crowd cared a whit about the Crusades?
The far-right hijack Christianity as a sort of blanket justification or spiritual legitimisation for their hateful Islamophobic views.
Despite this, various British Christian leaders from all leanings, liberal or conservative, maintain that this is not what Christianity is about.
To celebrate the crusades and parade the cross in such a manner is to also celebrate the tens of thousands of Muslims and Jews that were massacred in the siege of Jerusalem by Christian crusader forces in 1099.
Yes, the Crusades were very bad. But let's not get started talking about religious massacres by Muslims against Christians and Jews. Even recently, there have been about 70,000 Christians massacred in Nigeria this century.
If the churchmen stood up for other biblical teachings as strenuously as they advocate for not using the cross in a political context, the West would be a very different place.
