Keep Calm and Carry On

1. Because many of the claims being made in the promotional material are claims that echo the gospel message we would proclaim, choosing to take the argument to Tommy Robinson requires enormous subtlety. This is very difficult to achieve in a response that is both in-the-moment and headline-grabbing. We run the risk of undermining our commitment to the true gospel in our attempt to weed out the false elements that are mingled with it.
2. If we allow Tommy Robinson to set our agenda, we risk adding publicity to his movement. Quiet boycotting may be more effective. (Did Christ ever leave Christmas? Does Christ need us to put Him back in? We don’t need to lend credibility to this nonsensical claim.)
3. We run the risk of resisting the politicisation of the Christmas message with an equal and opposite politicisation. Yes, the gospel has remarkable political and social implications, but this may not be the time to lean into them. In fact, reading the Gospel birth accounts aloud, we may discover that they speak for themselves more powerfully than we can.

In the wake of very strong reactions to the ​‘drag-queen last supper’ tableau at the Paris Olympics in 2024, I wrote a blog post urging that we resist the temptation to overreact. I concluded with these words: 

Perhaps it is time for me to take my own advice. Tweaking my own words, slightly: Let’s not over-react when people whose agendas we suspect express Christian truths we agree with. 

This isn’t to say that we roll over and accept the appropriation of Christian language and imagery for less-than-gospel messaging. (The Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence, which I direct, exists for just this reason!) But there are ways and times to respond, and this may not be that moment. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and nothing will depend entirely on what happens this Christmas. Good theological engagement will be required, but this needs to be developed with cool heads and mature reflection.

And the gospel is more powerful than perhaps we imagine. I’m reminded by the story of a man who stood up to mimic and mock the evangelist George Whitfield, and ended up being converted by his own ​‘sermon’.

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Instead, I counsel that we don’t give Tommy Robinson the airtime he so desires. That we keep the main thing the main thing. And that we ​“Keep Calm and Carry On”.

What might this look like in our churches this Christmas?

First, we pray. As we pray for those attending our carol events, we might pray similarly for those who will turn up to the Tommy Robinson one. May they encounter the Christ who met Saul on the road to Damascus and turned his life around; the Christ whose commanding word of invitation confronts all our agendas and vested interests; the Christ who calls us all to repentance, and to receive grace with open hands.

Second, we allow the medium to match the message. It’s so tempting to try to match the volume and shrillness of political actors that we feel are coopting the Christian message. ​“Christmas is about this!” ​“No, Christmas is about this!” But the Gospel stories are populated with people who didn’t have power or seek it – little people who quietly and faithfully got on with the things that they had to do, in order to play their part as God got on with the big stuff.

Third, we embrace complexity. The Gospel birth accounts are represented to us with the wonderful alchemy of joy and sadness; of truth declared and truth long-incubated; of the King-come-to-earth and the hard lives of ordinary peasants. Can we allow our messaging to match this richness? Can we allow something of the ​‘thickness’ of the Christmas story to permeate our retellings of it this season?

And finally, we trust the gospel and its power to confront and transform, its power to save and convert. Urgent and distressing as this moment is, we don’t need to carve out a new gospel in response to it. We simply need to hold fast to the apostolic faith. The gospel has stood on its own two legs for two thousand years. It will endure long after the posturing of Tommy Robinson and his friends have died away. It will last much longer than anything clever we try to invent.

Preach the good news. Love our neighbours and our enemies. Celebrate the Christmas story, and declare it joyfully in our communities. This is what we seek to do, week in and week out, year upon year, Christmas after Christmas. This year is no different. Keep calm and carry on.