Love Stronger Than Fear: A Christian Response to Nationalism

In November 2025, an estimated 150,000 attended a ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally in central London ¹. The size of the rally, organised by Stephen Yaxley Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, was shocking. It was the most visible warning for many of us as to the number of people who felt that the anti-immigration and Islamophobic ideals of the co-founder of the far-right English Defence League, Yaxley Lennon, offered hope, recognition and a collective sense of belonging.  

The rally revealed much about the ways that Christianity is being manipulated within the UK by right wing organisers.

One speaker at the Unite the Kingdom rally called for the ‘forcible ban of all religions except Christianity from the UK’ and for a ‘religious war’ of ‘Christianity versus the rest’. The Revd Dr Helen Paynter² has analysed the place of Christianity within Stephen Yaxley Lennon’s rallies in both 2024 and 2025. For The Revd Dr Paynter, it is the fusion of ‘Christianity’ with political and civic life, that characterises ‘Christian Nationalism’ – a much contested and complex term that indicates a Christianity that is ‘as ethnic and political as it is religious’.  

As Unite the Kingdom marched through London, other parts of the country remained emblazoned with St George’s flags as “#OperationRaiseTheColours” encouraged flags to be hung from buildings and lampposts and painted on zebra crossings and roundabouts. Both the march and the flags reflected, for many, the result of decades of neglect and marginalisation faced by many working people, whose industries, jobs and communities have been decimated – first by the decline of the heavy industry that provided jobs, identities, community belonging and pride, and then in successive failures by governments to invest in the wake of this decline.  

A brilliant report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation³ speaks of the grief and loss that define these community stories, generating the deep crisis in identity, belonging and purpose that those living within economically and politically marginalised contexts feel. This grief is being manipulated by populists like Yaxley Lennon and directed away from the government and those in power, instead scapegoating already marginalised ‘others’ as ‘the problem’; migrants, asylum seekers, Muslims, Black people, members of the LGBTQ+ community.  

And yet, arguably, there is as much that unites as divides these groups.

There is serious work for Christians to do in bringing solidarity, hope and love and reclaiming Christianity from the hands of nationalists.

Or as one movement of Christians has put it, telling a “better story” of love over hate and reconciliation over division.

Martin Urmson/Better Story 

Trying to work out what to do can feel an overwhelming task when differences feel so entrenched and unpalatable⁴. Perhaps the best way to approach it is to follow the work of so many of the Church of England’s brilliant parish priests – to begin at neighbourhood level, where we and those who might disagree with us share our community spaces and are most invested.

How might we learn more about the perspectives of those with whom we disagree locally?  

As someone who has spent a significant part of their life in North-East England, and remembers the miners’ strike of the 80s and attended the Miners’ Gala in Durham Cathedral in the noughties, I was moved to watch Ken Loach’s film ‘The Old Oak’ which narrates the story of Syrian migrants moving into a deprived former mining community in County Durham. There is considerable hostility from locals who perceive the migrants to be benefitting from charity and handouts in ways that local people – whose children are hungry, angry and withdrawn – are not. A local pub owner extends sympathy towards one Syrian family, facing the attack of some locals who drink in his pub.  

Through the relationship that is built between the pub-owner and the daughter of this family comes learning, about the history of the miners and the violence and pain of the miner’s strike and its aftermath, and about the violence of the Syrian regime’s treatment of its own people. As this relationship builds, and the refugee family’s energies begin to catalyse the revival of community life around shared needs for socialisation and food, the pub owner undergoes a significant loss. As he is facing his despair, his Syrian friends turn up and bring him a meal. Entering the publican’s kitchen, his friend simply says to him, ‘we know about loss’.

In this quiet moment of understated solace, something happens that reaches across the divides of culture, language and class through the universal gifts of food, empathy and care.  

In Leeds, I have the privilege of living in a city and a parish whose Christian leaders have been exemplary in being and building bridges of empathy amid polarised encounters between a community of migrants in a hotel and local community members in Seacroft. There is a lot to celebrate within this community, but it also faces considerable challenges and there is, amongst many, a resentment that the neighbourhood has been forgotten and abandoned by successive governments and elites.  

Every Friday night, there is a protest outside of the hotel – anti-migrant protestors on one side of the road, and members of Stand up to Racism on the other.5 Moving between the rather polarised groups are a group of Christians and those sympathetic to the work of breaking down the distance between different groups by offering home-made cakes, biscuits and crafts, and in so doing generating a different kind of energy – of curiosity, friendship and sympathy.

This is Christian presence at its best. A quiet human presence, open to the concerns of others, breaking down the silos and echo chambers which we all increasingly inhabit and offering an alternative set of incarnational hopes and ways of being.  

I am privileged to be learning locally from people who have more experience than me. And I know that there will be many reading this who have their own experiences to share – of what has worked in fostering peace and collaboration in such situations, and what has not. This is something that USPG wants to learn more about and in so doing help others to learn too. If any of you have wisdom to share, please do get in touch with us and let’s explore how we can learn together.  

Since this article was written, the Together Alliance march on 28 March 2026 drew over half a million people through central London, making it the largest anti-far-right protest in British history. Were you there? We’d love to hear about your experience.

References:

1 Predicted, estimated and attendance for the unite the Kingdom and counter-demonstrations | metropolitan police. Available at: https://www.met.police.uk/foi-ai/metropolitan-police/disclosure-2025/september-2025/predicted-estimated-attendance-unite-the-kingdom-counter-demonstrations/ 

2 Unpacking the theology of Christian Nationalism with the Revd Dr Helen Paynter. [online] YouTube @ better_story_ (2026) 

3 Beyond the flags: Grief, polarisation and the work of repair (no date) Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Available at: https://www.jrf.org.uk/neighbourhoods-and-communities/beyond-the-flags-grief-polarisation-and-the-work-of-repair 

4 Responding to Christian nationalism (2026) Joint Public Issues Team. Available at: https://jpit.uk/responding-to-christian-nationalism 

5 Evans, A. (2025) Cake or death?, The Good Apocalypse Guide. Available at: https://goodapocalypse.substack.com/p/cake-or-death 

Images with thanks to Martin Urmson/Better Story. Find out more: https://www.betterstory.info