What do Christians make of the crosses at the Tommy Robinson march?

[noblegiraffe]

I'm an atheist so my reaction is 'co-opting the imagery of the Crusades because these people hate Muslims'. But it's not my religion and not my imagery.

What do Christians think about the huge amount of wooden crosses being available for protesters on the Tommy Robinson march to pick up and march with?

They remind me more of the ones who invented the cross as an instrument of torture to nail Jesus on to. Handing them out without giving the crowds any theological rationale or prayerful God centred words is a dead giveaway for people who are performative, not actual Christians. I’m concerned about the rise in Islamist extremism, as should all folks who value a tolerant society, but jackboot thuggery is not the answer.

The English, Scots and Welsh haven't been fucked over by immigrants. Our most recent decline is thanks to rampant capitalism, poor workers rights, too little investment in housing, privatisation of water, rail and utilities, a media that is set up to support the interests of the wealthy and to ensure a government that does that remains in situ.
The rise in anti immigrant feeling has been stoked in the main to ensure that certain people get in power for their own self gain.

OP. It's actually overt KKK / neo nazi racist posturing. It is a visual message about their desire to lynch, and to commit hate crime and murder against people who are not white.

It's not christianity they are (primarily) trying to demonstrate, although handily it comes across as "just the right side" of plausible deniability, so they can claim the crosses are only supposed to be about religion, and they don't have to spell the rest of the meaning out loud ... The crosses are a symbol of hate. The whole thing is absurdly fucked up.

We have to stand 100% against it. I wish the christian church would make a statement, if they haven't already? I don't know. I'd fucking hope they condemn it in no uncertain terms.

Crossed posts?

Not sure. Only those carrying them will know. That is my point.

It is a bit like the flags, I suppose.
I cannot feel intimidated by the UK flag. Or by the cross.
I can only assign the value to them that is in my own conciousness, whatever anyone else intends to mean with them.
The cross is a symbol of God's love and dedication to the salvation of humankind and something you can find many believers gathering around when in search for guidance. The flag represents the beautiful country we live in. For me.

But, as I am keeping an eye on what is going on in US and hoping it does not ever get anywhere close to here. Plus, religion and politics are much better well appart. We have centuries of history to prove it.

It is really interesting that you see it as KKK/neo-nazi imagery where my first thought was the Crusades.

If you see the march yesterday through the lens of 'Tommy Robinson hates Muslims' the whole thing makes sense. There was Templar Knight imagery along with the crosses (Christians v Muslims on the Crusades). It also explains the Israeli flags and the Iranian pre-revolutionary flags that were being flown.

There were black people who attended and said they had a great time. It might be more pertinent to ask 'were there any Muslims there?'.

I see the crosses as a deliberate visual link back to the Crusades which we all know was a deliberate war aimed at overthrowing the Muslim world and enforcing Christianity. The use of the cross today comes from the same mindset as hanging the Union Flag and the George cross on lampposts.

The people behind it know that talking about being on Crusade is highly offensive to many Muslims. They also know that saying out loud that they want to conquer and defeat Islam would show up their very real racism, so instead they have adopted the imagery and are selling themselves as Christians who just love their country and want to protect the innocent.

It is a very deliberate corruption of religious and national symbolism perpetrated by cynical, exploitative people and is doing an excellent job of sucking in people with no knowledge or understanding of history, politics or propaganda and therefore do not understand they are being used as stooges.

I think they all need a good bible bashing.

Not as bad as rapists or murderers is hardly a glowing recommendation.

Yes, absolutely this.

It's all about marking territory.

They have latched onto Christianity and the symbol of the cross as they want to position themselves that highly in case of any criticism. They can then try to present this image of goodness and righteousness because in their minds god = the most high and in control and not to be questioned. They are hijacking religion to use as a gaslighting tool.

Well, Jesus actively supported refugees and indeed, just after his birth, was a refugee himself along with his parents after they escaped to Egypt to claim asylum following Herod’s edict to kill all male firstborns, so maybe those holding crosses were indicating their support for refugees and asylum seekers in his name.

"What do you think the crosses were for?"

So-called 'Religious nationalism'. Well, they could hardly go the whole hog with the white robes and pointy hoods, could they?

You might think fans of Jesus would be horrified, if not deeply insulted, to see crosses all over the place.
Would people wear a rifle badge to mark their affection for JFK? Or for Kirsty MacColl fans to carry speedboat signs?

This guy went the whole hog with a Richard the Lionheart outfit.

I think, like I said, it's not black people the crosses are aimed at.

I find it deeply offensive and worrying. It’s a constant conversation in my church community - how can we ensure the far right stop co-opting our faith into their awful nationalism?
unfortunately he keeps getting breakaway “
Self styled Anglicans - AKA people who got kicked out or left the Church of England - to attend and give speeches. But people think they are C of E clergy. They aren’t. The vast, vast majority of C of E clergy and lay people are very opposed to nationalism.

It's good to hear that church communities are having these conversations. I'm not sure what you can do about it though.

Assuming they can read.

It appears she does indeed have an OnlyFans or works for another porn company.

We had a sermon around Christmas about this far-right nationalism NOT being Christianity.

I am reminded of Russell Brand desperately leafing through the Bible while Piers Morgan patiently watches.

https://richardjmurphy.substack.com/p/how-reform-can-be-challenged

Might be relevant

Wrong thread? He doesn't mention performative Christianity or Tommy Robinson?

Well he does mention some of the things that can be done to tackle the supporters of Farage & Robinson.

They come from the same roots

The Christian faith leaders of Liverpool have certainly already made a statement as the piazza of the metropolitan cathedral was used as the starting point of a UKIP rally.

Statement UKIP rally

Historically, the whole of the Middle East and North Africa was Christian. Istanbul was only conquered in the 15th century. Christianity reached India in 52AD, long before it reached Britain.