EXPERTS have warned that far-right groups are weaponising Christianity for their political agendas and have urged churches to speak out against right-wing extremism.
They said groups like Britain First and supporters of the jailed far-right activist Tommy Robinson are increasingly using Christian rhetoric to try to build support for their political causes.
The Scottish Government is also monitoring the issue. A response to a freedom of information request by The Ferret revealed its safer communities division suggested staff attend a recent seminar called Christianity and Far Right Extremism, hosted by a think tank called Theos.
The organisers said far-right extremism has gained ground over recent years in the US and UK, and has sometimes done so by using Christian language, symbols and imagery.
Far-right groups claiming to be Christian include Britain First. In 2014, its members targeted mosques across the UK with bibles, calling it a “Christian crusade”. Supporters also paraded through Muslim-majority areas of UK cities, with large crosses.
One of the speakers at the Theos webinar was Dr Maria Power, a senior research fellow at the University of Oxford. She is co-editor of The Church, The Far Right, And The Claim To Christianity, a book published last year on the church’s response to the rise of the far-right.
Power told The Ferret: “One of the main problems facing the churches in dealing with right-wing extremism is the fact that many of the ‘extremists’ are speaking and spreading hate from within the church.
“The Christian churches need to exercise their teaching authority more and speak out against such examples of right-wing extremism, demonstrating how these belief systems are counter to the teachings of Christianity.”
She said one of the best things churches can do to combat right-wing extremism is to fund youth work: “At present, not enough funding is being directed towards youth work, either in the churches or within society as a whole, and this is a fundamental problem.
“Young people need community, and right-wing extremist groups provide this for them when the churches don’t.”
Patrik Hermansson, senior researcher at the anti-racism charity Hope Not Hate, said there are many groups that connect themselves with Christianity. The clearest example is probably Britain First, he told The Ferret, adding that “increasingly, Tommy Robinson’s supporters have begun using this rhetoric as well”.
Another factor is US influence, which Hermansson said has been increasing for a number of years. He claimed some of this “relates to Christian institutions funding far-right activity in the UK, and US reactionaries building relationships with Christian reactionary groups and activists in the UK.”
Donald Trump’s US election win “spurred on the far-right in the UK and is generally supported by it”, he added, with the caveat that “it is probably too early to tell of outright influence”.
Last week, a summit aimed at tackling the threat from the far-right, hosted by First Minister John Swinney, was held in Scotland. About 50 organisations – including political parties, faith groups and charities – attended the forum in Glasgow. Swinney claimed that shared values were under “huge threat” from disinformation and pressure from the “hard right”.
All Holyrood parties except the Conservatives attended the event. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party was not invited. Farage claimed Reform were “never part of the far-right”.
Britain First, the Catholic Church and Church of Scotland were asked to comment.
WITHHELD INFORMATION
Meanwhile, a separate request for information by The Ferret about a far-right political party registered in Scotland was refused by the Home Office, which cited concerns surrounding “national security”.
We asked the UK Government department for communications it held regarding the Homeland Party – which is registered at a West Lothian address and led by a Scot – and Patriotic Alternative, another far-right group from which Homeland splintered.
But it declined the request, citing part of the freedom of information act which relates to national security. If released, the information “would undermine national security and the integrity and effectiveness of the government to conduct practices to keep the public safe”, the Home Office argued.
“Releasing this information would allow those of concern to the authorities to gain knowledge or information, which would allow them to further or continue their activities of concern.”
The Home Office also said it was exempt from releasing the information due to another section of the act, which relates to the formulation or development of government policy, and allows for it to occur in private and “without fear of premature disclosure”.
“This is because the information relates to current, ongoing policy development, the Counter-Extremism Sprint 2024, to understand and effectively respond to the threat posed by extremists and extremist groups in the UK,” the Home Office stated.
“Release of information relating to these groups risks undermining development of new government policy to respond to the threat of extremism in the UK.”
If released, the information would be “highly likely to be useful to high-harm, extremist groups and individuals seeking to circumnavigate government oversight and intervention”, argued the Home Office.
Such actors spread “damaging conspiratorial narratives”, “exacerbate community tensions, promote violence and radicalise into terrorism”, it added.
The counter-extremism programme was commissioned by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper in August last year. It was designed “to understand and effectively respond to the threat posed by extremists” – namely those of Islamic and far-right ideologies – and learn how the Government can adapt.
The review was reportedly accelerated following far-right riots in England and Northern Ireland last year, which saw organisations including Homeland and a Scottish white supremacist martial arts club try to use the unrest as a recruitment drive.
Homeland’s enquiries secretary, Carl Wilkinson, told The Ferret that his party does not meet the UK Government’s 2024 definition of extremism.
The definition includes the “promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance, that aims to negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others; or undermine, overturn or replace the UK’s system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights”.
Wilkinson highlighted that Homeland is a registered political party, and argued that it participates in elections, “has never promoted violence” and “operates under the law and within the bounds of democratic norms”.
The news comes days after Homeland held a conference focused on the mass deportation of migrants with guest speakers including the man behind a conspiracy theory cited by white supremacists and mass murderers. The event was also attended by members of the far-right German party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), which was designated as extremist last week.
‘Remigration conference’
Homeland's recent conference on April 26, in Lincolnshire, focused on “remigration”, which the party describes as removing “illegal, unintegrated, and unwelcome migrants”.
Speakers included French academic Renaud Camus, who coined the term “the great replacement” – a conspiracy theory that white Europeans are being replaced by Muslim people of colour in collusion with a globalist elite. Camus appeared via video link after the Home Office barred his entry to the UK, reportedly telling him that his presence in the UK was not “conducive to the public good”.
The writer denounces violence, but his work has been cited by white supremacists and mass murderers. Homeland defended Camus as having “consistently promoted peaceful discourse and democratic solutions” and argued he “cannot be blamed for the actions of individuals who have cited his work”.
Also in attendance was Lena Kotré, an elected politician from Germany’s Alternative for Germany party, now classified as extreme-right by German intelligence. She reportedly met with neo-Nazis last year and, in Berlin, handed out self-defence stabbing weapons, which are legal in Germany but banned in the UK.
Homeland alleged that Kotré distributed the weapons to women who had been targeted by sexual violence from immigrants. The party called it “a blatant lie” that Kotré attended a neo-Nazi event, which it argued was a “political conference”.
Who are the Homeland Party?
The far-right party is led by Kenny Smith, a former British National Party politician from the Isle of Lewis.
In 2023, Smith led a breakaway faction from PA to form Homeland, which registered as a political party despite an intervention from the Home Office and warnings from some Electoral Commission staff that senior figures shared “terrorist literature” and “antisemitic and racist” content.
Homeland dismissed the “spurious claims” it alleged were made by “junior” commission staff determined to reject the application.
‘Toxic and divisive rhetoric’
A SCOTTISH Trades Union Congress (STUC) event, held last week, focused on opposing the far-right.
“Hundreds of trade unionists” declared that “the toxic and divisive rhetoric of the far-right has no place in our society”, STUC’s general secretary, Roz Foyer, told The Ferret. “We will take that call and that action to every town and city across Scotland.”
Scottish Labour’s Michael Marra said Scots “must remain vigilant about the rise of the far-right and stand up against the division that extremist groups want to sow”.
Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman called for “a focus on extremism in education settings and on groups using social media to radicalise people, specifically vulnerable groups who are susceptible to this kind of conditioning, covertly or openly”.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We work closely with partners in Scotland and the UK to ensure we are able to identify and tackle the threat of extremism and terrorism.”
Counter-extremism is reserved to the UK Government. The Home Office does not comment on individual cases.
