Evangelical church network Affinity says it sees a "broader opportunity" to engage people frustrated by high levels of immigration and the erosion of values with the truth of Christianity.
Graham Nicholls, Director of Affinity, was less condemnatory than other Church leaders about the recent Unite the Kingdom rally that was organised by far-right activist Tommy Robinson and attended by at least 100,000 people, possibly even up to a million.
Christian leaders have shown themselves to be divided on the issue of Robinson - who apparently recently converted to Christianity - and the movement he has inspired.
Various Church of England bishops and the CEO of the Evangelical Alliance signed an open letter condemning “the co-opting of Christian symbols, particularly the cross, during Saturday’s ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally” and what they described as “racist, anti-Muslim and far-right elements”.
Nicholls, while acknowledging the concerns of critics about the appropriation of Christian symbols and “hateful language”, noted that the rally was a response by normal people, many of them Christian, to “the erosion of British values” and “unsustainable immigration”.
Nichols cautiously welcomed the use of Christian symbols as indicating, at the very least, a "recognition amongst many marchers that Christian values have a positive effect on communities and nations".
“To be clear, we do not equate carrying a cross or using Christian symbols with being a Christian. However, we are glad that some people recognise the value of our Christian heritage and are, in some way, seeking to reconnect with it. Surely, this cultural moment presents many gospel opportunities for us," he said.
“We say to those who marched or observed from a distance that the answer lies not in carrying a cross but in living under the cross – not as a symbol of Britishness or a set of self-defined values, but as a symbol of the death of Jesus Christ for sinners like us.
"The empty cross demonstrates that Jesus Christ is King, and we humbly bow to his majesty, deriving our values, our understanding of what it means to be human, our ideas, our sense of nationhood, and our definitions of love from his example and teaching.”
Apologist David Robertson suggested it was hypocritical of Church leaders to condemn the "co-opting" of Christianity by people concerned about immigration when liberal and progressive Christians "regularly use Christianity to proclaim their particular political views".
"Did you write an open letter concerned about the use of Christian symbols at Pride parades or anti-Israel marches? Many individuals and communities feel anxious, unsettled and even threatened by aspects of these marches. Do their feelings not count?" he said.
Peter McIlvenna, author at The Federalist, who was at the Unite the Kingdom rally, described the Christian elements in positive terms, saying, “The gospel choir that were there … it was actually true worship, and the people on the front leading, I thought I was in Kensington temple on the Sunday morning, and not in the middle of Westminster on a Saturday.
“The worship was beautiful … they were worshipping and they were leading people who were. There is something powerful about that. Maybe many of them there are not Christians. [But] maybe that could have been their first encounter with Christ.”
