September 2025
Christian condemnation of Far Right?
I was going through my archives of old Baptist Times issues when I came across a headline from the front page of the 13 April 2006 issue. "Churches urged to speak out against BNP election threat," the headline said.
I wonder where the courage and moral clarity that prompted both that headline and the Yorkshire churches about whom it is writing has gone from the UK? Instead we see disingenuous attempts to obscure the obvious meaning of intimidatory and exclusionary flag painting and attempts to treat as normal the rise of an obviously far right populist party in this country.
Where are the church leaders speaking out with courage rather than equivocation and conciliatory language?
When this country slips into a fascist nightmare, church leaders will have to bear the historic blame along with politicians and the media.
Jonty Langley
Editor of S(h)ibboleth magazine and former Baptist Times columnist
(received 8 September)
Re: Misuse of cross at Unite the Kingdom rally condemned by church leaders
Church leaders have issued statements about the recent ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally. They are likely to be counterproductive. Many will regard them as the latest of innumerable pronouncements by ‘mainstream’ church and political leaders, implying that ‘only bad people oppose mass immigration'. The impact on those who feel they are being condemned will be to nudge them further towards the arms of extremists who, by contrast, seem to respect their legitimate concerns.
To attempt to reclaim the space long-since abandoned to extremists, UK Christian leaders would need to acknowledge that love of neighbour does not require support for unlimited immigration, any more than it requires allowing unlimited numbers to board a boat irrespective of the effect on comfort of passengers, direction of travel or buoyancy of the vessel; that ‘welcoming strangers’ no more necessitates mass immigration than it necessitates opening every family’s home to any and all who might decide to live in it; that some fears are reasonable and some hopes naïve.
They would need to make a convincing effort to understand why people protest. They would have to give up communicating that support for mass immigration is a moral obligation, and begin acknowledging that it is a political stance that should, like all others, be subjected to the scrutiny of wisdom, and assessed in terms of the effects on all concerned. Some such attempt to connect with huge numbers of ordinary British people would be better (very) late than never.
Michael Thomas, Grantham
Re: Show me the humanity
Just read Steve's timely piece and wanted to applaud and encourage him. We just had a service on this very topic on Sunday, with a fantastic talk from one of our Elders, Rob Lea, entitled "Welcome to England".
Thanks again Steve - you had me at "Show Me the Humanity"!
Simon Lace, Easthampstead Baptist Church