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If Britain turns into an official Islamic caliphate, as seems all too likely, it will in no small part due to the appalling complicity of its institutions. While Muslims bellow ‘death to Jews’ and ‘behead the infidels’, and flood Trafalgar Square in ‘mass prayer’ that looks more like an invading army’s triumphal procession, Christians are hounded and persecuted by the very authorities of the state with an established Christian church.
A ‘Walk With Jesus’ event, marking Lent, was met with threats of banning, violent protests, and arrests. Christian preachers are regularly arrested at Speakers’ Corner, while the Muslim mobs threatening to tear them to pieces are left untouched. Even silent praying is greeted with arrest – literally, a thought crime.
Now, the putative future head of the Church of England is facing accusations that he hardly ever even bothers to go to the church he’ll one day lead.
Prince William’s aides have been moved to publicly share thoughts on his commitment to his Christian faith as he prepares to attend the installation of the new Archbishop of Canterbury this week. The comments were said to be intended to draw “a line in the sand” over questions about William’s approach to his future role of Supreme Governor of the Church of England, which he will inherit when he becomes king.
Instead, like Uncle Andrew’s attempts to ‘clear his name’, all he’s done is dig a deeper hole for himself.
The story was first published in the Sunday Times, with an aide quoted as saying, “The Prince of Wales’s commitment to the Church of England is sometimes quieter than people expect, and for that reason it is not always fully understood.”
So ‘quiet’ that it appears indistinguishable from non-existent.
Gavin Ashenden, who served as chaplain to the late monarch from 2008 to 2017, criticised the Prince of Wales during a radio discussion, describing the announcement as feeling “strategic” and “political”.
The criticism emerges just days before William and Catherine are due to attend the enthronement of Dame Sarah Mullally as Archbishop of Canterbury on Wednesday, marking a historic moment as she becomes the first woman to hold the position.
Mr Ashenden expressed his frustration with the timing and nature of William’s religious declaration.
“I feel a bit insulted. The thing is, Christianity, a man’s religious faith, it’s a matter of intense integrity, really,” he said. “People die for it in places. They give their lives for it. The standards are very high.”
The former royal chaplain pointed to William’s track record of limited church attendance, noting the prince is known primarily for appearing at services during family occasions and formal events such as Christmas and Easter.
The last thing Britain needs, right now, if it’s to survive as, if not a Christian, then at least a non-Islamic (failed) state, is ‘quiet faith’ from its supposed leaders.
Experts have warned for some time that the United Kingdom is a powder keg, ready to erupt into civil unrest – much of it driven by deepening religious and cultural tensions. In such a moment, a purely private and “quiet faith” isn’t going to be all that effective in solidifying the kingdom’s identity and direction.
This matters because Britain is not religiously neutral in its history or its institutions. Its identity has been profoundly shaped by Christianity. The Union flag itself bears the crosses of St George, St Andrew, and St Patrick, and its legal and political traditions have long been influenced by biblical categories of justice, authority, and order. In short, Christianity has been a defining force in the nation’s formation, and must remain at the forefront if the nation is going to maintain its identity.
Yet modern Britain, like much of the West, is wrestling with an identity crisis. It is unsure of what it is – at least, at the levels of power – and therefore uncertain of where it is going. The attempt to be everything to everyone, religiously, culturally, and morally, has left a vacuum. A nation that refuses any defining centre risks becoming, in the end, defined by nothing at all.
Or, worse than nothing: something very, very bad indeed.
The something that has, so far, raped British children on an industrial scale for decades, perpetrated vile terror attacks, often explicitly targeting little girls, driven a spike in anti-Semitism, including burning Jewish community ambulances. At just six per cent of the population, Muslims scarf up a quarter of welfare payments, and take up even more of its jail cells.
‘Quiet faith’ will be no match for a violently militant faith whose 1600-year history is littered with the corpses of its victims and slaves.
