Nigel Farage using Christianity to channel anti-Muslim feeling, says former Archbishop of Canterbury
"I don’t think he lies awake at night thinking about his soul."
A former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has said that the Reform leader is misusing Christianity in the UK as a tool to stir up “anti-Muslim feeling”.
In an interview with the New Humanist Magazine, Williams also said he would ask far-right agitator Tommy Robinson how his Christianity “squares with public rhetoric designed to produce hostility and violence”.
Williams, who was the Archbishop of Canterbury between 2002 and 2012, said “I suspect really that Farage and others want to channel anti-Muslim feeling, and it helps to have “we’re a Christian society” to fling back. It gives a sort of ballast.”
In March, Farage criticised an Iftar in Trafalgar Square, saying the religious fast-breaking event in London was an “attempt to overtake, intimidate and dominate our way of life”.
The Reform leader also singled out Muslims, saying he would ban mass Muslim prayer at historic public sites if he became prime minister. He faced a backlash for the comments.
In a speech at Easter, Farage claimed you wouldn’t know it was Easter “because cities, towns all over our country are really really shy about advertising the fact”.
He added: “It is our Judeo-Christian culture that underpins everything in our country”, adding that while the UK is tolerant of all religions “isn’t it about time we insist this is who we are”.
Speaking about Reform’s appointment of James Orr – who has been influential within Donald Trump’s administration – as one of his senior advisors, Williams said: “Although Nigel Farage thought it was worth getting a theologian on board for Reform UK, I don’t think he lies awake at night thinking about his soul.”
He added: “I may be doing the man an injustice, but I don’t believe he cares about profound theological questions.”
Orr is known for his hardline anti-abortion views, and said in a GB News interview last year that it was “plausible” that Britain might become a Muslim-majority, or Muslim-plurality, country by the end of the century.
Williams also noted that at International Christian conservative gatherings, the message is increasingly that “self-respecting nationalist movements need a bit of theology injected into them”.
“Ironically, for someone like Nigel Farage, it’s about trying to find a presentational strategy that allows him to be taken seriously outside England. He’s often not here, after all,” he said.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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