Ryan is ordained in the Church of England. He studied English Literature at the University of Cambridge, and was a Parish Priest in East London. He now works as a Researcher in Parliament.
"He’s a brown Hindu, how is he English?"[1]
This was the question recently posed by podcaster Konstantin Kisin of former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. A day earlier, Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, was on stage proclaiming that "Judeo-Christian culture" underpins Western civilisation[2].
These remarks are indicative of an emerging trend amongst populists in British politics: the deliberate co-opting of Christian imagery to stoke division and fear.
Christian Nationalist Rhetoric Goes Mainstream
High profile people-of-colour have long been the targets of abuse, from Diane Abbott to Sadiq Khan, with issues of race and migration fuelling the hate. But increasingly today, that hostility is often cloaked in Christian language and symbolism. Abroad, figures like J.D. Vance have defended hardline immigration policies as a "very Christian concept, turning ideas of “loving your neighbour” on its head[3]" This is more than just rhetoric —it’s a calculated effort to use the language of Christianity as a tool to divide.
One day at St. Paul’s Cathedral…
I was ordained into the Church of England in the summer of 2021. As I walked down the famous aisle of London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral that afternoon, the moments of national significance that had occurred in that very place, from royal weddings to national mourning, were at the forefront of my mind. I felt like I was close to touching the very fabric of English society.
And yet, almost simultaneously, as I prepared to swear an oath of allegiance to the Monarch, I was reminded of another moment.
This time, not from our national life, but from my own childhood- a conversation with my mother, where she had once told me, unprompted, ‘you can never say you’re English, only British, because “they’ll never believe you”.’
I never quite knew who ‘they’ were, but reading the headlines of recent weeks, it seemed like ‘they’ were back.
I was born and raised in Mitcham, South-West London. My dad is originally from India, and my mum is from Sri Lanka. I have always been confused about why I couldn’t call myself English. After all, I was born in England. That seemed to be what qualified my classmates at school. What I really wanted to know was- who got to decide?
Much of the conversation around immigration has centred around ideas of ‘integration’. On that basis, I thought I was safe. My parents came to this country with very little, amidst the backdrop of the civil war in Sri Lanka in the 90s, and worked hard to contribute to our local community. So once I’d gotten ordained in the Church of England, I thought finally I could put the whole thing to bed.
I am, to use Kisin’s language, a brown Christian.
For many, Kisin’s remarks served as an all-too-familiar dog whistle. Despite his English birth, elite education, and tenure as Prime Minister, Sunak’s skin colour and his religion were used to position him as ‘other’.
If integration was truly the goal, why do the goalposts constantly move?
As Sunak himself said recently- “Of course I'm English, born here, brought up here […] on this definition, you can’t be English even playing for England’[4].
Labour Party and its Christian roots
Although I wouldn’t have called myself a Christian for much of my life, I’ve learned that at its core, Christianity has been a force for justice, peace, and compassion. Its emphasis on social justice has provided the means and the motivation for historic movements such as abolition and civil rights.
The Labour Party itself was founded on the values of Christian Socialism[5]. Its co-founder, Keir Hardie - namesake of our current Prime Minister- was himself a devoted believer[6].
I wonder whether the version of Christianity promoted by some of these figures today would be recognisable to Hardie.
His Christian faith profoundly inspired his advocacy for social justice in a way that was pioneering for his time. Often referencing Jesus’ sermon on the mount, Hardie was a vocal proponent of issues such as women’s suffrage. Furthermore, in the age of the British Empire, Hardie’s insistence that countries such as India should be governed by Indians themselves was met with much outrage amongst his contemporaries[7].
The current populist brand of Christianity, by contrast, appears to be perfectly encapsulated by the image of Donald Trump lifting up the Bible outside a Washington church after tear-gassing peaceful anti-racism protestors[8]. The President has even gone as far as to launch his own ‘God Bless The U.S.A.’ brand of bible, which can be bought for $59.99[9].
For the nationalists in the UK, Christianity is simply one tool amongst many in their wider call for a return to what they perceive as a golden era for England, taking the country back to its ‘roots’, with immigrants in general, and muslims in particular, being villainized in the process.
The great irony, however, is that far from being English, the Jesus of history was a Middle-Eastern refugee who called for society to look after the poor and the hurting—a figure far removed from the populists’ vision of Christ.
The muted response to last summer’s anti-Muslim riots across the UK—the cumulative result of years of anti-immigrant rhetoric—is symptomatic of a wider failure to confront the rise of Christian nationalism in Britain.
The Mainstreaming of Christian Nationalism
The rise of Christian Nationalism amongst populists has opened the door for the othering of people-of-colour being legitimised by mainstream voices. High-profile figures who once championed multiculturalism, have recently questioned Britain’s post-Brexit immigration policies, pondering whether the influx of migrants from "Asia and Africa", as opposed to Europe, has been "good for us."[10]. This sets a concerning precedent, that in wanting to have a robust debate about immigration, people are being scapegoated by the very leaders who were once advocating for them.
It’s ironic that what has become the symbol of English nationalism is the cross of a Christian saint, St. George; itself a reference to the cross of Jesus. With the nationalist agenda being popularised, the growing resurgence of movements such as Blue Labour, which call for a renewal of local faith communities such as Churches, must prompt us to examine what it really means to incorporate the values of faith into public life?[11]
The temptation becomes that in an attempt to appeal to the masses, both the Labour Party and people of faith may be tempted to walk on by on the other side, instead of calling out injustice, hatred, and division when we see it.
What Needs to Happen Now?
Much has been written about the recent resurgence of faith in general, and Christianity in particular, especially amongst Gen-Z[12]. As a priest serving in some of the most diverse parts of London, I have seen first-hand how faith communities do indeed have much to offer our increasingly divided world, often at the forefront of caring for the poorest and most vulnerable.
These communities offer an insight of how it is possible to live in harmony in modern Britain; forming diverse coalitions of people from across backgrounds; welcoming the stranger, and offering a powerful antidote to the language of division and polarisation we are constantly bombarded with.
However, we must also be courageous in confronting injustice.
For the Labour Party, this means having the boldness to counter these harmful narratives of ‘othering’, and staying true to our values of social justice and compassion, especially when it might be politically expedient not to.
As tempting as it may be, we must resist the false dichotomy that pits the working class against immigrants. Instead, as the threat of parties such as Reform UK grows, we must be vigilant in calling out the dangerous co-opting of Christian language as a tool to sow division and stoke hatred.
At its core, the Labour Party has a unique mandate to represent people from all backgrounds and offer genuine hope, and, if it chooses to, play a vital role in ensuring that our society remains a force for unity, compassion and justice.
[1] https://youtu.be/Ei2_zQLg9Lg
[2] https://youtu.be/C8sksfIMsBQ?si=k_5EB88rk0hNBjc0
[3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o98Po0lWZxE&t=274s
[4] https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0028mq3
[6] https://www.keirhardiesociety.org/keir-hardie-and-christianity.html
[7] https://gerryco23.wordpress.com/2015/09/08/keir-hardie-a-message-for-today-from-labours-past/
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_photo_op_at_St._John%27s_Church
[9] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/06/trump-bible-review
[10] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0022nbr
[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Labour