C of E responds to Tommy Robinson’s carols event with ‘Christmas is for all’ message 13 December 2025 at 02:00

C of E responds to Tommy Robinson’s carols event with ‘Christmas is for all’ message

By:Harriet Sherwood · Chris Osuh and Diane Taylor

13 December 2025 at 02:00

Release of 43-second video comes as senior church figures speak out against dangers of Christian nationalism

The Church of England has released a video in response to a Christmas carols event on Saturday being organised by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson amid calls from a growing number of senior church figures to challenge Christian nationalism.

In the 43-second video, Christmas Isn’t Cancelled, posted on the church’s YouTube channel, more than 20 people from the archbishop of York to schoolchildren speak about the “joy, love and hope” of Christmas. The message is “a simple reminder that Christmas belongs to all of us, and everyone is welcome to celebrate”, the C of E said.

The Christmas story captured in a single moment 12 December 2025 at 08:47

The Christmas story captured in a single moment

The Kingston Whig-Standard

By:Bill Gervais

12 December 2025 at 08:47

There was once a popular radio show called The Rest of the Story with Paul Harvey, which ran from 1976 to 2009. This program would share true stories by delving into important but often unknown details. One memorable episode, “The Man and the Birds,” tells of a compassionate man who decided not to go to church on Christmas Eve because he struggled to believe in the Incarnation. Read More

The Guardian view on far-right perversions of the Christmas message: promoting a gospel of hate | Editorial 11 December 2025 at 13:31

The Guardian view on far-right perversions of the Christmas message: promoting a gospel of hate | Editorial

The Guardian

By:Editorial

11 December 2025 at 13:31

A Tommy Robinson-inspired carol service is the latest sign of a burgeoning Christian nationalist movement. The Church of England is right to push back

The story of Christmas is a tale of poverty and flight from persecution. According to Christian tradition, humanity’s saviour is born in a stable, since Mary and Joseph are unable to find a room in Bethlehem. The holy family subsequently flee to Egypt to escape the murderous intentions of King Herod. This drama grounds the New Testament message of compassion for the stranger, the fugitive and all those who find themselves far from home. “I was hungry and you gave me food to eat,” says Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”

The spirit of a far-right show of force planned on Saturday by Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, AKA Tommy Robinson, will be somewhat different. Since reportedly converting fully to Christianity while serving a prison sentence for contempt of court, Mr Yaxley-Lennon has energetically deployed his faith to promote his own gospel of ethnic discord and political polarisation. The Unite the Kingdom rally he organised in July featured hymns, a plethora of wooden crosses and a Christian preacher who spoke of a war against “the Muslim”. His latest provocation is a “carol service” in central London, ostensibly to “put Christ back in Christmas”.

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Church of England reviewing complaint against incoming archbishop of Canterbury 11 December 2025 at 07:25

Church of England reviewing complaint against incoming archbishop of Canterbury

The Guardian

By:Matthew Weaver

11 December 2025 at 07:25

Sarah Mullally accused of mishandling abuse complaint against priest in London, where she serves as bishop

The Church of England is reviewing a complaint against the incoming archbishop of Canterbury over her handling of an abuse allegation.

Dame Sarah Mullally is due to take up the role next month, after Justin Welby was forced to resign over the way he dealt with a safeguarding scandal.

See No Evil review – this delicate documentary about an Anglican’s child abuse is deeply harrowing 10 December 2025 at 17:00

See No Evil review – this delicate documentary about an Anglican’s child abuse is deeply harrowing

The Guardian

By:Lucy Mangan

10 December 2025 at 17:00

It’s humbling to witness the eloquence and dignity of these survivors as they talk about their experiences with John Smyth – possibly the most prolific serial abuser ever associated with the Church of England

John Smyth was a sadistic predator who used to groom the boys in his care then beat them with such viciousness that he would have to provide adult nappies for them to wear afterwards lest they leave blood on the chairs in his home when he brought them back from his shed. He upgraded the shed at one point, to make it soundproof. One of the men who suffered at Smyth’s hands as a boy remembers bleeding for weeks after. Another says: “I honestly thought I was going to die.” Another says that despite the pain the worst part was afterwards, when Smyth would cover the boy’s bloodied body with his and nuzzle his sweaty face into the boy’s neck and give him butterfly kisses. In his nightmares it is “that draping” he relives.

Smyth, who died in 2018, was also a husband, a father of three children, a respected barrister, a prominent Christian evangelist, a moral campaigner, a man deeply involved with Winchester College (where he would give talks about the law and Anglicanism and invite interested boys to his family home for further discussions over Sunday lunches) and with the Church of England. He ran the Iwerne Christian summer camps for boys in Dorset and Zimbabwe throughout the 70s and 80s. All of this gave him uncountable opportunities to indulge his sadism. One boy in his care, Guide Nyachuru, died. An accidental drowning, said Smyth. Nyachuru was a strong swimmer. His family remains convinced that their 16-year-old boy died as a result of abuse by Smyth and was placed in the water afterwards. Smyth succeeded in discrediting the lawyer who was set to prosecute him for culpable homicide and fled back to England.

In what sense is Tommy Robinson a genuine Christian? None that I can see | Ravi Holy 10 December 2025 at 03:00

In what sense is Tommy Robinson a genuine Christian? None that I can see | Ravi Holy

The Guardian

By:Ravi Holy

10 December 2025 at 03:00

The extremist, who is said to have converted in prison, is now planning a mass carol service. But look at his words and deeds: hardly Saint Tommy, is it?

Here’s a thought for the day: what kind of Christian am I, and what kind of Christian is Tommy Robinson? It needs addressing, and so it’s good, given the far-righter’s recent religiously contentious pronouncements – and ahead of his planned carol service this weekend – that my church is addressing it. That’s not to say the matter is simple.

Scroll back. When I told someone from the Pentecostal church, which I had attended in my 20s, that I was going to be ordained in the Church of England, she very graciously conceded that while, on the whole, it was a “dead church”, there might be one or two “real Christians” within it. More disturbingly, a senior Anglican cleric of the evangelical persuasion recently said something similar to me – and I was unclear whether he regarded me as being one of the chosen few.

Ravi Holy is rector of The United Wye Benefice in Canterbury, Kent, and a standup comedian

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