Understanding Christian Nationalism in Britain – What Does the Data Say?

In this article I will be drawing from a recent research report from the Theos think tank to try to explain what Christian Nationalism in Britain is and how the Church can respond.

Christian Nationalism is a relatively recent phenomenon in Britain. It has only gained prominence in culture and the media since 2024. British forms of Christian Nationalism owe a cultural inheritance to the US Christian Nationalists, especially from internet media personalities, podcasts, and “culture warriors.” But while it has that inheritance, British Christian Nationalism is distinct from the US version.

British Christian Nationalism is influenced by the legacy of the established church, the English Civil War, the long-lasting urban legacy of the Industrial Revolution, the economic crisis of 2008, and Brexit.

More generally, the term ‘Christian Nationalism’ has pretty much no usage before the Second World War (according to Google Ngram Viewer). There was minimal use until 2010, and then a ten-fold increase from 2011. While there are historical examples of colonial and imperial Christian ideologies, Christian Nationalism is neither of those things. But Christian Nationalism is notoriously difficult to define.

Defining Christian Nationalism

Christian Nationalism is not merely a political movement, nor is it simply a matter of wanting Christian values embedded in government and society. It is more than a claim that a person’s nation has had an overwhelming Christian culture in its history, and it does not necessarily demand a focus on one particular nation. Neither is Christian Nationalism just the union of being Christian and being a Nationalist.

There have been lots of attempts to define Christian Nationalism, but they have either been too narrow to be useful or too broad to be effective. Instead, Theos have offered a definition which I think allows for the best possible exploration of Christian Nationalism. Nick Spencer, writing for Theos, said:

Christian Nationalism is best understood as seeing those two terms – “Christianity” and “the nation” – as somehow coterminous or co-dependent.

In other words, Christian Nationalism means saying that being Christian, and the identity of that nation, are the same thing, or are dependent on each other. Often the Christian bit is reduced to a cultural or value system, and then even further rendered meaningless by reducing it to something called Judeo-Christian which is little more than a dog-whistle. The Nation is also often equally vague. It can refer to a specific people, a culture, a nation-state, or to the ‘West’ more generally.

So while there is a general definition we can use, there are sub-categories within that group.

Christian Nationalism Isn’t Just One Thing

Five distinct forms of identity in relation to Christian Nationalism were identified from the survey. This included two separatist identities who wanted to keep Christianity and Britishness separate, and three integrationist identities who wanted to combine Christianity and Britishness in one way or another.

34% of people were Committed Separatists. These don’t want Christianity to be a part of Britain, and also don’t have a particularly strong sense of British identity.

16% of people are Cultural Separatists, which don’t want Christianity to be part of Britishness, but are hostile to the idea of any other culture or religious identity (especially Islam) occupying that space.

26% of people are Values Integrationists, who do not think you need to be Christian to be British, but see Christian values as an important element of British values and law, and want that to be recognised and protected.

11% of people are Identity Integrationists, who see Christianity as fundamental to being British, and want to defend and preserve the nation’s Christian heritage. They are the group that is closest to the definition of Christian Nationalism, being very strongly committed to the idea and identity of Christianity in its values and supposed historical culture. However, this group is also the most nominal of the five. 81% of them say they are Christian, but only 13% go to church every week, and their Christianity is much more about culture and heritage than practice.

13% of people are Belief Integrationists, who want to see Christianity integrated with Britishness and the Nation, although they are less worried about the state. They want to promote Christianity, seeking active conversion, but are less worried about preserving historic Christian culture. This group is also the most likely not to be white, and the most practising of the five, with 31% going to church every week.

What Does the Data Say About Christian Nationalism?

Theos commissioned RED C to survey 1,765 UK adults between 7 and 27 April 2026, as part of a wider survey of 10,848 adults across six European countries.

17% of UK adults agreed that you need to be Christian to be truly British, and 8% strongly agreed.

16% of people agreed that people who do not hold Christian values do not belong in the UK, and 7% strongly agreed.

41% agreed that the Law in Britain should be based on Christian values.

40% said that religious education in Britain should prioritise the teaching of Christianity.

37% think that the government should formally declare Britain a Christian country.

26% of people agreed that it is important for the political leader to be a Christian.

Previous surveys show that while there has been a reduction in Christian belief in the UK, and in the general importance of Christianity, there has been a growth in the importance of Christianity for a minority of people.

An Ipsos MORI poll in 2012 for Channel 4 showed that 61% of people said Britain should be a Christian country, but only 4% said that not being Christian would stop you being British.

The 2023 British Social Attitudes survey showed that 19% believed it is very or fairly important to be a Christian in order to be British. The British Social Attitudes survey has measured the importance of being Christian for being British since the 1990s, with the results being 32% in 1995, 31% in 2003, 24% in 2013, and 19% in 2023.

This shows the gradual decline in the importance of Christianity for Britishness overall. The growth is among a minority, and Christian Nationalism has only gained traction since 2024. Theos describe it as apparently growing, and the Unite the Kingdom rally in September 2025 brought more than 150,000 people onto the streets of London, a surprising number of them carrying crosses.

However, most research into Christian Nationalism since 2024 is necessarily limited, generally only a one-off poll, and has not had a clear definition, and the British Social Attitudes series stops in 2023. It is difficult to get a clear idea of the development of Christian Nationalism in longitudinal terms. But the results from the Theos survey help to identify the key beliefs of Christian Nationalism.

Are Christian Nationalists Actually Christian?

Theos describe four different forms of Christian Nationalism. Three of them draw on Nilay Saiya’s research on American Christian Nationalism, in “The Varieties of American Christian Nationalism” in Politics and Religion (2025), 18, 171–189, and the fourth, Phyletism, was added by Theos. Because Saiya’s research is about the United States, it does not necessarily carry across to Britain. However, it does give us a good starting place and can help us with language to explore the conversation more clearly.

The four forms are:

• Charismatic Dominionism, which seeks cultural and political control over a nation. They generally endorse the 7 Mountains Mandate, which seeks to take control over the family, religion, education, media, entertainment, business, and government. They are often exclusivist, and have ethno-centric and authoritarian tendencies.
• Calvinist Nationalism, tends to adopt a reconstructionist, or theocratic system, including theonomy. They want to restructure society along the lines of the Old Testament kingdom of Israel, or like Calvin’s Geneva. They say that the nation should be like the church, and led by the church.
• Catholic Integralism, is a reaction to the Second Vatican Council. It seeks to return to a kind of neo-christendom, with nations and governments recognising the authority of the church over every aspect of national and international politics and statecraft.
• Phyletism or Ethnophyletism, is the belief that the national identity, or ethnic identity, should be the governing principle of the church. A church should be formed of one nation, or one ethnic group.

All four forms tend towards kinds of muscular Christianity or ‘strong’ faith, often drawing from kinds of neo-masculinity including themes such as the crusades.

A key theological point in discussions around Christian Nationalism is the Ordo Amoris, the ‘right order of love’. It is an idea found in Augustine (354–430) and Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274).

In the version that matters for Christian Nationalism, it becomes a concentric expansion of interests. You start by loving the people closest to you, and then expand your circles of love, so that your family comes first, then your neighbour, your community, your fellow citizens and your country, and only then the rest of the world. US Vice President JD Vance (born 1984) argued for a version of this in 2025. I argue that this is not what the Ordo Amoris is.

This reading has been rejected, most prominently by Pope Francis (1936–2025), who wrote that Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests, and that the true Ordo Amoris is found in the parable of the Good Samaritan, a love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.

Interestingly, it should be noted that state or established churches have often been the staunchest bastions against Christian Nationalism.

One of the most important parts of the data is that the group closest to Christian Nationalism is also the most nominal.

81% of Identity Integrationists say they are Christian, the highest of any group, but only 13% go to church every week (the average for the whole survey is 11%) and 31% pray every week, compared to 46% of Belief Integrationists. Asked what matters most about being a Christian, 18% of them said defending our Christian heritage and culture and 16% said making sure the country stays Christian. For Belief Integrationists those figures were 2% and 1%. Not one Identity Integrationist said that being an active member of a church was the most important thing.

We need to be really clear on this point. I argue that being nominally Christian means not being Christian at all. Christianity is not an identity, a heritage, or a culture. It is a living faith and a relationship with God. The people in this group adopt the identity and culture of a particular kind of Christian ideology. But they are not actually Christian.

There are also Christian Nationalists whose nationalism comes alongside a practising faith.

Belief Integrationists are the most practising group, and 51% of them agree that to be truly British you should be a Christian, while 66% of them agree with the Great Replacement conspiracy theory. They are a different case. These are practising Christians, and their Christian Nationalism cannot be put down to nominal faith.

How The Church Can Resist Christian Nationalism

Christian Nationalism is not primarily a theological category, at least for the majority of Christian Nationalists. It is an emotional and political reaction. However, and this is the key bit, it looks Christian from the perspective of an outsider.

Christian Nationalists are often anti-Islamic, anti-mass-immigration, anti-elites, and pro ‘family values.’ They are protectionists who want to guard an idea of a Christian people or nation against an exterior or interior enemy. But just wanting the nation to be Christian, or wanting the state to reflect Christian values, does not make someone a Christian Nationalist. It is the belief that being Christian and being part of that Nation are the same thing, or are dependent on each other.

However, race is part of this, and we cannot ignore it. 93% of Identity Integrationists are white, compared to 86% of the whole sample. 42% of them agree that to be truly British you should be white, as do 37% of Belief Integrationists, compared to 16% of the whole sample. 70% of Identity Integrationists are proud that Britain is predominantly white, and 84% say that Britain is too ethnically mixed, compared to 54% and 60% of Belief Integrationists. 45% of Identity Integrationists would be unhappy if most of the staff at their local hospital were from ethnic minorities, compared to 19% of Belief Integrationists and 15% of the whole sample.

Theos describe a substantial racist contingent among Identity Integrationists, and say the same traits are visible in Belief Integrationists, to a slightly lesser extent.

46% of Identity Integrationists and 39% of Belief Integrationists say that Christianity is a Western religion, compared to 27% of the whole sample. Theos point out that it is not, either in its origins or in where it is practised today.

Anti-feminism is part of it too. 30% of Identity Integrationists and 34% of Belief Integrationists agree that social problems today are ultimately down to feminism and the erosion of traditional masculine values, compared to 16% of the whole sample.

Belief Integrationists are also the most pro-natalist of the five groups. 28% of them say the government should encourage women to have more children, compared to 22% of Identity Integrationists and 13% of the whole sample.

When thinking about how the Church can respond, we can focus on Identity Integrationists, who are the most visible and vocal of Christian Nationalists. They are often deeply anxious, displaying more and stronger social concerns than the other groups. They act from a place of fear, anger, and growing resentment.

This is particularly fed by the right-wing Great Replacement conspiracy theory, the idea that the white population in Europe is deliberately being replaced by migrants from Muslim countries. 82% of Identity Integrationists agree with it, and 66% of Belief Integrationists, compared to 37% of the whole sample. Identity Integrationists are the most likely of all the groups to believe it.

As we have already seen, Identity Integrationists are the most nominal of the five groups: their Christianity is a matter of identity and culture more than faith. While there are Christian Nationalists who hold a theological position for their political agenda, the group closest to Christian Nationalism is culturally Christian, or Christian as a form of identity, not as a practising faith. This has an impact on how we respond.

Principally, this is not actually an ideological battle to be won. A good theological argument will not persuade them to stop being a Christian Nationalist. What we need is a better kind of imagination, and a more persuasive story, while building up communities of resistance that can support people who are the targets of Christian Nationalist attacks.

Christianity needs to be able to offer a vision that is rooted in hope, abundance, blessing, and a positive future, to be able to counteract the anxiety and fear around loss of status, identity, and economic decline.

Christianity needs to offer a better understanding of what masculinity means, moving away from a faux-strength rooted in physical strength, violence, and confrontation, and instead show that the real victory is over the self, and it is much, much harder to live a life of love and forgiveness, than it is to swan around shouting Deus Vult at people who look different to you.

Christianity needs to build communities of love, peace, mutual aid, and resistance, where people can support each other, and highlight the stories of those who are being isolated and condemned.

There does need to be better theology. But we also need better stories, better communities, and better imagination.

You can read more about the Theos survey and reports here:

Beyond “Christian nationalism”: Measuring attitudes to Christianity and Britishness today (Theos report, October 2026)

Christian Nationalism: an explainer (Theos)

Theos: Christian Nationalism research project

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