LONDON (RNS) — The last time the British anti-migrant agitator Tommy Robinson led a rally through the streets of London, marchers, some dressed as Crusaders and carrying crosses, kicked and punched police, threw bottles and spewed offensive chants against political leaders.
So, when Robinson called for another rally, titled “Putting the Christ Back Into Christmas” religious groups across the country quickly organized in counterprotest ahead of the march, which is scheduled for Saturday (Dec. 13).
The Church of England has launched a poster campaign at bus stops and other locations that says “Christ has always been in Christmas” and “Outsiders welcome.” A coalition of three other Protestant denominations has put out a set of resources for churches to use, called “Joy for All.” And the Sanctuary Foundation, a Christian organization that provides support services to refugees and asylum-seekers, is hosting a live Nativity scene — donkey included — at a London church hours before the march.
“Tommy Robinson is most famous for his work stirring up hatred and fear amongst the British population toward asylum-seekers, refugees and immigrants,” said Krish Kandiah, who directs the nonprofit. “This seems so ironic when Jesus himself was a refugee, right?”
A poster featuring a bus stop Nativity in the #JoyForAll campaign by the Church of England. (Image courtesy of the Church of England)
England, as in the United States, has a surging white nationalist movement that seeks to reclaim its Christian identity. One of those leading the charge is Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. He rose to prominence in 2009 as a leader of the now-defunct English Defense League, which was known for drawing soccer hooligans to anti-Islam protests. While serving a prison term for repeating false claims about a Syrian refugee, he was reported to have converted to Christianity.
He has since repeated the white supremacist “great replacement” theory — a baseless conspiracy positing there is an orchestrated plan to replace white people with people of other races.
“While we rejoice that Stephen Yaxley-Lennon has come to faith in prison, what he then doesn’t get to do is to reduce that wide embrace of God’s mercy and start redefining it on his own terms,” Church of England Bishop of Kirkstall Arun Arora told RNS. “The hallmarks of the ministry of Jesus Christ are healing, forgiveness and self-sacrifice, and those are not the values that you see coming out in Tommy Robinson and his supporters.”
Arora rejected the claim made by organizers of the rally that Christmas has been canceled or forgotten.
“In every church, in every cathedral, in every parish, in every corner of our country, they can find a story of hope, joy and love,” he said.
RELATED: ICE Nativity scenes: Churches reimagine Christmas story amid deportations
Still, the plans by the populist far-right leader have prompted a vigorous counteroffensive in part because Christians may not recognize the dangers to minorities, refugees and other vulnerable people, said Alex Clare-Young, campaigns and church engagement officer for the Joint Public Issues Team, a social justice advocacy organization for three denominations: the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church.
“A lot of people in churches are confused because some of the advertising that’s been coming out about this has been suggesting that it’s about Christian revival, and it’s just a worship event about praise and celebration,” said Clare-Young. “And they might feel, ‘Oh, well, that’s something we might actually like to go to.’ So we’re strongly encouraging people not to go.”
People demonstrate during the Tommy Robinson-led Unite the Kingdom rally, in London, Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Joanna Chan)
The September Unite the Kingdom rally, which took place three days after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, was considered the largest by the far right in England’s history, with estimates of 110,000 people crowding through the streets of London.
Among the speakers at the rally was Elon Musk, who appeared on screen via video railing against the “woke mind virus” and telling the crowd that “violence is coming” and that “you either fight back or you die.”
Steve Bannon, President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist, was also invited to the march but did not make it.
At the march, Robinson was quoted saying “It’s not just Britain that is being invaded, it’s not just Britain that is being raped. Every single Western nation faces the same problem: an orchestrated, organized invasion and replacement of European citizens is happening,”
About 5,000 counterprotesters demonstrated against the rally. But some Christians said they were discouraged by the counterdemonstrations.
“We found the response of the counterprotesters, which was basically to shout ‘fascist scum’ at people, didn’t really line up with our vision of loving our neighbors, loving our enemies and trying to find a different way of engaging with people in a way that is not dehumanizing,” said Thomas Sharpe, a 25-year-old Christian in London who founded the group Better Story.
Sharpe, who attends an evangelical Church of England congregation in North London, said he’s going to lend his support to the live Nativity planned earlier in the day at Trafalgar Square’s St. Martin-in-the-Fields.
He knows it likely won’t match the numbers of the far-right march, but he’s hopeful a focus on the Christmas story that inspires charity and kindness will sway British Christians more.
“We’re trying to make sure that what we do is hopeful and positive,” he said. “We’re not there to be combative. And so, it’s not really a numbers thing for us. It’s more of just wanting to show a bit of who we see Jesus as.”
RELATED: Was a University of Oklahoma student unjustly flunked because of anti-Christian bias?
