Looking at the pictures of the far-right demonstrations in Southampton last week, you may have seen a man in a clerical collar.  

This was Pastor Chris Wickland, minister of Living Word Church in Titchfield in Hampshire.  

Despite my many criticisms of Wickland, I can’t imagine him personally chucking a dustbin at a police officer. But his views are not much different to many of those who did.

Who is Chris Wickland?

Wickland is one of a small but increasingly vocal and emboldened number of out-and-out far-right clergy from independent churches or fringe denominations who are explicitly allied to figures such as Tommy Robinson.

Earlier in the day, Wickland was interviewed by Tommy Robinson himself. In the interview, posted on Instagram, Wickland declares that “minorities are being elevated way beyond” the majority.

Chris Wickland’s social media feeds are fall of vicious posts dehumanising Muslims, migrants and LGBTQ+ people, along with support for the far-right in the USA. He has a tendency of using the word “effeminate” to describe Christians and churches with whom he disagrees.

Chris Wickland has at least showed himself willing to engage in discussion with people with whom he disagrees. That is to say, he did when I met him in December, when I went along to watch part of Tommy Robinson’s “carol service” in central London. Wickland appeared on the stage next to Robinson wearing clerical dress, a great piece of visual propaganda for Robinson’s claim to be defending “Christian” Britain.

Tommy Robinson didn’t stop when I called out to him as he walked past me on the way out of the “carol concert”. Chris Wickland did, however, stop when I challenged him and was at least willing to answer my questions about his views. He was polite, but his arguments were full of the most tortuous twisting of scripture to fit passages that were ripped from their context to fit into a nationalist, racist agenda.

Making the far-right seem respectable

None of the clergy who turn up at Tommy Robinson events belong to mainstream denominations – but this shouldn’t make us complacent. Rikki Doolan, who seems to have played a major role in Robinson’s reported conversion to Christianity, is another independent minister. Cei Dewar, Phil Harris and Brett Murphy, whose views are essentially fascist, are associated w the Confessing Anglican Church.

At the same time, Nigel Farage and the Reform Party seem to have given up even the pretence of not being racist following the tragic murder of Henry Nowak. Reform Party members include a large number of Christians in mainstream denominations. Reform make much of their belief in defending a “Christian” Britain (which never really existed) and upholding “Christian values” (which they somehow square with turning back refugees and cutting support for the people most in need).

However marginal figures such as Wickland may be, they are increasingly confident and explicit in their views as the Overton Window in Britain lurches far to the right.

When casual observers see a man in a clerical collar in the footage of violent racist demonstrators, perhaps the biggest fault lies with mainstream church leaders who are failing to recognise the size of the problem or to do much about it. Those of us who reject the far-right because of our Christian faith need to be far more vocal and visible in saying so.

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My book, The Upside-Down Bible: What Jesus really said about money, sex and violence (Darton, Longman and Todd, 2015) is available in paperback or e-book for £9.99.