Editor's Comment: Tim Farron MP and Evangelical Times may not see eye-to-eye on everything. But on this we are agreed. Balaclava-wearing, ethnocentric protesters who shout 'Christ is King' are not proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here is Tim's take...
In recent weeks we have seen large groups of men in black with covered faces blocking roads in coastal towns. These men call themselves Patriots. Their leader told The Times that they were growing a 'Christian patriotic army' to put pressure on the government over immigration.
This sort of ‘patriotism’ seems to me to be a darker nationalistic framing of an idealised Britain that probably never actually existed – a defence of a ‘traditional’ white British Christianity against ‘invaders’ who are not ‘like us’.
It is a far cry from the gentle patriotism of last week’s Last Night of the Proms, where people waving Union Jack flags sang along to Jerusalem and Land of Hope and Glory.
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