The Archbishop of Canterbury has denounced the misuse of religion to “intimidate and divide” in what some have interpreted as a veiled attack on Tommy Robinson and his Unite the Kingdom rally.
Speaking in the House of Lords, days after the rally attended by thousands in London, Archbishop Sarah Mullally said there needed to be a “renewal of hope in our country” and a “rejection of hatred and division”.
Ahead of the event Robinson, who converted to Christianity last year, said that the rally was all about promoting “unity” and in the days before the event spoke of the need for a return to faith in the country and of a spiritual awakening occurring, particularly among young men.
Speaking to historian David Starkey, Robinson talked of changing the political culture of Britain “through celebration, through identity, through re-bringing Christianity back into the focus, by re-understanding who we are as people, what's made this nation”.
“I’m witnessing a revival in men … In fields across the UK on Saturday mornings – they’re not going to church on Sundays. They’re training, they’re praying and they’re being stronger together for each other.”
Reports suggest that 60,000 people attended the Unite the Kingdom rally, although at previous events there has been dispute about the numbers, with Robinson and his supporters giving figures significantly higher than police estimates.
As well as being a pro-British event, the rally was explicitly Christian in parts, with many participants carrying crosses, chanting “Christ is king”, group recitations of the Lord’s prayer and speeches from clergy.
In her Lords speech, Mullaly said, “We have also seen religious identity misused to intimidate and divide. Let us be clear: to follow Jesus Christ is to love your neighbour as yourself, to love without exception and to seek the flourishing of all."
She also spoke of the need to tackle the “deeply concerning deterioration in intercommunity relations”.
She added, "We must undertake the harder task of bringing communities together, of making strangers neighbours, and ensuring that all who reside here have both the opportunity and the responsibility to contribute to our shared life.”
