by Madeleine Davies, Church Times
Warnings of perceived racism in public display of ‘Englishness’
AS THE Cross of St George continues to appear across the country, unfurled from lamp-post flags and daubed on roundabouts, clergy have offered reflection on the possible motivations for the movement.
The BBC reports that, in August, a group calling themselves the Weoley Warriors claimed responsibility for Union flags and St George Cross flags hanging from lamp-posts in Birmingham suburbs, describing themselves as a “group of proud English men with a common goal to show Birmingham and the rest of the country of how proud we are of our history, freedoms and achievements”.
The flags then started to appear on lamp-posts across the country, with social media fuelling the movement. One man in Worcester, Tom Conway, told the BBC that he had put up more than 400 flags himself. Roundabouts and other street-markings have been branded with the St George Cross.
Some have expressed concern about the motivation behind the movement, and the message it appeared to convey. The spray-painting of a St George’s flag on a wall at St John the Baptist, Ermine, in Lincoln, last week was “an attempt to intimidate”, the Vicar, the Revd Rachel Heskins, told the BBC (News, 29 August).
The anti-racism charity Hope Not Hate reported last month that “while many instances of flags being raised, or crosses being painted on roundabouts or walls, are being carried out by ordinary people inspired by posts on social media”, was the Far Right was the “main organising force behind the campaign”.
On Thursday of last week, two red crosses and the words “This is England” and “Christ is King” were sprayed onto the South Essex Islamic Trust’s building in Vange, near Basildon. The Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Deqhani, issued a statement: “The use of Christian language and symbols as a justification for hatred and intimidation is scandalous and profoundly misguided.”
England flags are everywhere. What should Christians make of it? by Danny Webster, Premier Christianity