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Far-right nationalists in the U.K. are using Christmas to make a political point. In response, the Church of England has launched a rebuttal campaign about who the holiday is for. NPR's Fatima Al-Kassab reports from London.
UNIDENTIFIED CHOIR: (Singing) Oh, little town of Bethlehem, how...
FATIMA AL-KASSAB, BYLINE: Christmas carols ring out from a church just off London's Oxford Street. But this year, these age-old songs have become political. This month, a far-right activist who calls himself Tommy Robinson held his own Christmas carol concert outside government buildings in London's Whitehall. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has organized white nationalist and anti-immigrant rallies around the country, including a big march through Central London called Unite the Kingdom, where Elon Musk addressed the crowds by video. At his open-air Christmas concert this month, he said he was...
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STEPHEN YAXLEY-LENNON: Putting Christ back in Christmas every year in London, in Great Britain.
AL-KASSAB: Yaxley-Lennon has been in and out of prison for various offenses, including assault. He told the crowd at this open-air concert that he found God behind bars. And since then, there's been a notable presence of Christian symbols at his far-right rallies - wooden crosses, crusader costumes, calls to defend God, faith, family, homeland. That language may be familiar to the Christian right in America, but until now it hasn't been a part of right-wing politics here. The Church of England is concerned about all of this and is mounting a campaign to fight back.
ARUN ARORA: Christmas is for all - the welcome of Christmas for all.
AL-KASSAB: Bishop Arun Arora is leading the Church of England's new holiday PR campaign to counter the far right. They've put out YouTube videos...
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Every year, we hear stories that somehow Christmas is being canceled.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Or that somehow the joy of Christmas is under threat.
AL-KASSAB: ...And posters on public transit across the country showing baby Jesus not at a stable, but at a bus stop.
ARORA: With words on the poster such as, all are welcome, outsiders welcome, and, Jesus has always been in Christmas, countering the message put out by some that somehow Jesus has been erased from Christmas.
AL-KASSAB: This new wave of Christian nationalism is coming from America, says Linda Woodhead, professor of theology and religious studies at King's College London.
LINDA WOODHEAD: In its latest iteration of Christian nationalism in the USA, the Christian symbols and politics - Republican, MAGA, Trump-led politics have become so bound up with religion.
AL-KASSAB: She says the far right is experimenting with the same formula here.
WOODHEAD: Tommy Robinson - I think he's testing the waters, maybe, to see if it's going to actually work here, if this is going to help or hinder the movement.
AL-KASSAB: Bishop Arora hopes to challenge this Christian nationalist idea of Christmas with messages like the one in this video...
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: It's Christmas.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: It belongs to us all.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: And everyone's invited.
AL-KASSAB: ...That remind people that this holiday is for everyone.
Fatima Al-Kassab, NPR News, London. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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