Britain is Essentially Christian, says Bishop

London, England – The Bishop of Lichfield, the Rt Rev Jonathan Gledhill, in his Christmas message has emphasized that Britain is and will always be essentially Christian and not a multi–faith society.

The Anglican Bishop, also used his Yuletide missive to launch an attack on some schools’ abandonment of traditional nativity plays and carol services.

He acknowledged that some reports of shopping centres banning Father Christmas, or of councils rebranding Christmas as Winterfest, had proved to be false or misleading.

But he added: “When decisions like this are reported we are told it is to protect people of other faiths; which is strange, because you will rarely hear people of other faiths complaining about Christmas.

“And the other reason we are given is that Britain is no longer a Christian country. I just don’t buy that.”

The bishop said the UK census had established that 72% of the population identified themselves as Christian – with other religions making up just five per cent.

He stressed: “I’m not trying to denigrate people of other faiths; I give thanks for all the good things that people of other cultures bring to our country; I’m committed to a multi–cultural Britain and to working with the leaders of other faith communities.

“I’m not saying it is okay to ignore their feelings, their aspirations and needs.

“The sort of people who can’t understand the outrage of the Sikh community in Birmingham this week are often the same ones who proclaim we are a multi–faith country and therefore cannot have Nativity Plays.

“I am saying that, even if our legislators don’t always know about it, Britain is clearly not a multi–faith country but a Christian one.

“I suspect that some people will find this statement offensive, but it will not be offensive to people of other faiths who, when I meet with them, often describe Britain as a Christian country.

“What puzzles them is how we have allowed Christian standards of morality and justice – standards shared by all the main religions – to be swamped by a superficial consumerism that depends on war, injustice, degradation of the environment and unfair trade rules to pay for our cheap goods.”

The bishop added: “If your local authority or shopping centre is having trouble with the word ‘Christmas’, don’t blame Muslims, Jews, Hindus or Sikhs.

“Blame the people making the decisions.”