A carol service hosted by far-Right activist Tommy Robinson passed off peacefully in London on Saturday despite fears to the contrary.
Around 1,000 people are reported to have attended the controversial figure's outdoor service in Parliament Square. Many of them were dressed in festive attire and wearing Santa hats.
Addressing the crowds, Robinson - real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon - said he had been on his "own path" with the Christian faith in recent months.
“In 15 years of activism, hundreds of demonstrations, hundreds of gatherings, this is the most beautiful moment I’ve had in my life as an activist," he said.
“Moments like this bring me closer to faith,” he added.
“People say, why are you here today? We’re here to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and everyone of us, including ourselves, need to ask what that means to us.”
Traditional carols were sung at the event, including "Silent Night", "Away in a Manger", "Mary's Boy Child", and "Come all ye faithful".
Conservative commentator Young Bob also spoke on the stage, telling people to become Christians.
"Jesus Christ is the only one God who will meet you on your level. Everyone is worthy of the promise of the cross," he said.
"Despite ripping out the Christian roots of this great nation. If it were not for Jesus Christ, I would not be here. If it were not for Jesus Christ, this country would not be great."
Robinson said he wanted next year's service to be even bigger and "fill Trafalgar Square".
He is reported to have recently converted to Christianity while in prison. Prior to the event, he said he wanted to "put the Christ back in Christmas", claiming the celebration had become too secular and commercial.
Multiple church leaders responded to his comments by issuing joint statements saying that Christ was already in Christmas and railing against far-Right "co-opting or corrupting of the Christian faith to exclude others".
A statement by bishops in the Diocese of Southwark said, "Jesus calls us to love not just those whom we like or agree with or who look like us – but to love our enemies and welcome the stranger.
"Any co-opting or corrupting of the Christian faith to exclude others is unacceptable, and we are gravely concerned about the use of Christian symbols and rhetoric to apparently justify racism and anti-migrant rhetoric.
"We understand that there are many who may be swept-up in movements like this who don’t necessarily buy-in wholesale to what is being said.
"We would encourage them to think again, to consider what kind of world they want to be a part of – and to choose compassion and understanding over hostility and conflict."
The church leaders were themselves accused of excluding others and co-opting the Christian faith for left-wing political agendas.
Dr Jason Swan Clark, director of the London Centre for Spiritual Direction, said that while he was no fan of Robinson, he disagreed with the level of fury being directed towards the carol service from Christians who have been happy to support overtly political agendas.
"We seem to have had Christian groups who have spent months entirely at ease under pro-Palestine banners, Islamic slogans, rainbow flags, LGBTQ+ causes, BLM symbolism, climate change flags, and anti-colonial rhetoric, who are suddenly and seemingly scandalised by a carol event — and not primarily because of the carols. That contrast alone should make us pause," he said.
He pointed to the arrest of priests for supporting Palestine Action, a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK whose activists have been accused of violent attacks on police.
"Yet many of the same voices express horror at a proposed carol service, immediately castigating it as ‘far right Christian nationalism’," Dr Clark continued.
"For years now, huge numbers of ordinary Brits have felt ridiculed, unheard, and publicly shamed simply for being British.
"And the moment some of them reach for Christian symbols, language, and tradition — the very things Christianity once assumed belonged to all — those who preach tolerance respond with moral panic and purity tests. The contradiction is hard to ignore."
Apologist David Robertson said the outcry from some Christians had been hypocritical.
"We are told that the objection is to 'the capture of Christian language and symbols by populist forces seeking to exploit the faith for their own political ends'. But we are being told this by leaders who themselves continually use captured Christian language and symbols to exploit the faith for their own political ends," he said.
"Leaders who cannot tell us what God says about salvation can tell us what God says about the EU, immigration, climate change and Donald Trump! It used to be said that the Church of England was the Tory party at prayer. Now it seems more accurate to describe it as the Green/Labour/Progressive party at politics."
Catholic commentator Gavin Ashenden criticised a counter-protest against Tommy Robinson's carol service that was staged concurrently outside St Paul's Cathedral, featuring Mary and Joseph in a refugee dinghy.
"You could not get much more political than that," he said.
