​This is a dangerous moment for Christians

If you pick a side in the culture war, you run the risk of not being on Jesus’ side at all, says Tim Farron MP 

Last week, Charlie Kirk, American conservative activist and friend of Donald Trump, was shot dead while answering questions from students on a university campus.

He was a controversial figure, engaging with young people on divisive issues around identity and morality. He also talked a lot about his Christian faith.

Kirk instantly became a martyr for the Christian nationalist cause. We don’t yet know his killer’s motives, but the President blamed the ‘radical left’ and vowed a crackdown. Meanwhile some who hated his views, reportedly celebrated his death.

The intense outpouring of emotion feels like a seminal moment in America’s polarisation. One side claims to speak for the idea of a ‘Christian nation’, and each side increasingly believes the other is evil and beyond redemption.

And these sentiments are finding their way across the Atlantic. On Saturday more than 100,000 people marched through London in a demonstration called Unite the Kingdom. Billed as defending free speech, and attended by people for a complexity of reasons, it was organised by right wing antagonist Tommy Robinson. Among the crowds there were displays of cultural Christianity including people carrying crosses and even wearing crusader outfits. There was a sense that our Christian heritage needed ‘taking back’.

And I think this is a real moment of danger for Christians. The ramping up of hostility means that many Christians are starting to think they must pick a side, and perhaps feeling that…