The founder of Oasis said any version of Christianity that creates division is “fake” in an interview with Sky News on Monday.
Reverend Canon Steve Chalke MBE made his comments amid growing concerns about the rise of Christian nationalism.
The Baptist minister argued that it’s not Christian to “take the Prince of Peace and the sign of self-sacrifice, the cross, and co-opt it into something that’s divisive”.
Chalke said: “Jesus’ whole mission was about bringing people together across divides and so any form of Christianity that ends up promoting the opposite is fake.”
The interview follows the publication of an open letter co-authored by Chalke and signed by a number of Christian leaders across denominations including a former Archbishop of Canterbury and CEO of the Evangelical Alliance, condemning the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ march that took place in September.
The 150,000-person nationalist march, organised by anti-Islam campaigner Tommy Robinson, saw marchers carrying wooden crosses, reciting prayers, waving flags with Christian slogans and chanting “Christ is King”.
The letter said: “Jesus calls us to love both our neighbours and our enemies and to welcome the stranger. Any co-opting or corrupting of the Christian faith to exclude others is unacceptable.”
When asked about whether people should be “muscular” in expressing inclusive Christian faith, Chalke said: “In one sense we are all warriors for love and inclusion. We get the society that we all vote for every single day of our lives.
“And if we vote for division, we get division, and you see the seeds of that in our society all of the time. Which is why I think this issue is so important.”
“We need to work to bring people together because without that, all our children and our grandchildren are going to struggle”, he added.
