Dr Rowan Williams, who was the archbishop of Canterbury for 10 years until 2012, said there was an “inevitable scepticism these days about some claims to religious conviction”.

Speaking to the New Humanist magazine, Williams said: “I suspect really that Farage and others want to channel anti-Muslim feeling, and it helps to have ‘we’re a Christian society’ to fling back. It gives a sort of ballast.”

Asked what he believed was driving Christian nationalism in the UK, Williams said: “There are lots of possible causes. Anxiety about migration, anti-Islamism. In France, that anxiety has a secular aspect, but the St George’s Cross still means something in the English imagination, which still has a Christian aspect.

“The second thing is the globalizing of all political discourse. The message given at international Christian conservative gatherings is that self-respecting nationalist movements need a bit of theology injected into them.

“Ironically, for someone like Nigel Farage, it’s about trying to find a presentational strategy that allows him to be taken seriously outside England. He’s often not here, after all.

“Then again, if we’re looking for what animates Christian nationalism, I think it’s in part the very simple search for someone to blame.”

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The Reform UK leader posted online at Easter stating: “The Christian values on which our country is built are something to be proud of.” In 2024, he prompted criticism after suggesting there were “a growing number of young people in this country who do not subscribe to British values, in fact loathe much of what we stand for”. He confirmed he was referring to Muslims.

Earlier this year, Farage criticized an iftar in Trafalgar Square, saying the religious fast-breaking event in London was an “attempt to overtake, intimidate and dominate our way of life”.

Source: The Guardian