In an “courageous” speech in the House of Commons this week, MP Danny Kruger has issued an urgent call for the UK to return to its Christian roots.
Kruger, MP for Devizes in Wiltshire, spoke to an almost empty chamber while he laid out a two-fold rationale for his call: reminding listeners of England’s Biblical foundations, and warning of the dangers of a society which is absent of a Christian God.
“There is a great hunger in society for a better way of living, and I want to use this opportunity to explain what that better way is and why we here in England have the means to follow it,” he said, before pointing to Christianity as “the source of all things we value now and that we need… such as freedom, tolerance, individual dignity and human rights.”
Kruger stated that moving away from a Christian understanding of God in the 20th century is what has led to “social breakdown, social injustice, loneliness and emptiness on a chronic scale”, and also warned that two religions are filling the space as Christianity recedes.
One of these religions was Islam, and the other, Kruger claimed, does not have a proper name, but is a "deeply mistaken and dangerous" ideology that is “a combination of ancient paganism, Christian heresies and the cult of modernism” which he believes we must banish “back to the fringes of eccentricity.”
“The fact is that... we have to choose which god to worship. I suggest we worship the God who came in the weakest form, Jesus Christ.”
His speech has drawn a positive response from MPs and a range of evangelicals alike. CEO of the Evangelical Alliance Gavin Calver and Director of Church Society Lee Gatiss each posted on social media platform X expressing their admiration, while Tim Dieppe, Head of Public Policy at Christian Concern commented, "Brilliant speech by Danny Kruger! A must watch. Though he underplays the dangers of Islam."
Tim Stanley, columnist and sketch writer for the Telegraph, while admitting he couldn’t agree with all of it, called the speech “courageous and compelling”.
Shadow Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Robert Jenrick shared the video, adding, “England, and the United Kingdom, are built upon and in the Judeo-Christian tradition. We should treasure that inheritance.”
Kruger was raised in an atheist household but came to faith age 28 after reading author C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. He has recently been at the forefront of opposing both the Assisted Dying Bill and the recent vote on abortion – both of which he cited at the start of his speech:
“We gave our consent to the greatest crime: the killing of the weak and most defenceless human beings. It was a great sin. If, standing here, I have any power to repent on behalf of this House, I hereby repent of what we did.”
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