Why Christian leaders should give Tommy Robinson the benefit of the doubt

Tommy Robinson, to the shock (and horror) of some, has kept his word.

He promised that this past weekend’s carol service in London would be free from politics and arguments about immigration. And it was. He seemed to understand that mixing anger over immigration with renditions of ‘Away in a Manger’ would be incongruous.

How should Christians respond to Tommy Robinson? Many church leaders have ostracised him because of his political views. But we can do better than this. 

Tommy Robinson is a new Christian, and should be treated as such. Rather than reproaching him publicly, Christian leaders should be respectfully engaging with him and explaining how they see the implications of following Jesus.

Change is life-long

On Saturday, Robinson said that his past hatred of the Church was changed to a commitment to Jesus in prison earlier this year. He came out of prison wearing a cross which he had not worn before. He had read the Bible as never before, had been visited three times a week by a Christian prison chaplain and had a two hour meeting with a pastor he knew who led him to ask Jesus to be Lord of his life. 

As a retired prison chaplain, I also know that many people make a genuine turn to Jesus in prison. They are then hampered by people assuming they are not genuine, looking only at their past and dismissing their new faith. I once baptised a very new believer, who, anxious about having to talk of his new faith, turned up to his baptism drunk. Fierce criticism came my way from a few older Christians, outraged by my practice of grace. I know that man is holding to his faith in Jesus today, despite severe disappointments. Tommy Robinson should at least be given the benefit of the doubt about his new faith, to help it grow.

As with everyone else, Tommy hasn’t immediately changed all his views since professing some kind of faith in Jesus. Having our minds renewed is a life-long process. We shouldn’t expect too much too quickly. Neither should we hold Robinson to a different standard than what we might expect of other new converts who we are discipling in our own churches.  

Views on Islam

Tommy continues to see more danger and threats around him than do most Christians. He sees Sadiq Khan as “a coloniser and unwelcome guest” and “a Muslim extremist who is transforming London, our city, into a Sharia Zone” - which is certainly a fear-filled view. But if Tommy is to find more of the love of God which casts out fear, he needs to be shown more of that love by Christians, rather than being castigated by our leaders.

Robinson also remains highly critical of Islam, seeing it as on the verge of supplanting Christianity in the UK. Many people question how a minority of, at most, 6% can supplant UK Christianity, with its much more substantial number of adherents and its long tradition. The number of people leaving Islam for atheism and for Christianity is also significant.

Yet most Christians in and from Islamic countries will urge us not to help Islam to flourish and grow in the UK, but to contain it. Restrictions on the burqa seem in line with British values of openness. Ensuring choice in restaurants so that halal beef is not the only option, is in line with British freedom of religion. Christians who do not want Islam to grow, especially in the UK, should be able to say so and to present a robust case.

As a retired prison chaplain, I have on many occasions been challenged persistently by Muslim prisoners, usually before a small audience. They have tried to convince me and the listeners that Christianity is stupid and obsolete. I have also heard prisoners telling me about bullying attempts by Muslim prisoners to recruit people to Islam. 

People who live in areas of the UK with a large Muslim population report similar experiences. Muslim youths celebrating the end of Ramadan with aggressive bravado on city streets make other communities stay indoors. Although Islam has little hope of taking over this nation, Islam can have undue influence in a few parts of our country.

Welcome the stranger

Tommy Robinson is seen by many Christians and Church leaders as a man of strange views, unwelcoming of strangers. But as we call for Chistian welcome of strangers, Tommy should be included in our welcome. The political views of the magi could well have been of concern to Mary and Joseph but they were made welcome regardless.

Furthermore, in a society where many different organisations, more or less Christian, hold their own carol services, Unite the Kingdom should not be treated as the one pariah.

Ultimately, the barrage of reproach against Tommy Robinson risks showing the Church to be sanctimonious preachers of the Gospel of The Guardian.