Oct 15, 2026 · 25 min · 8 segments
A right-wing vision of Jesus is coming to Britain, if a few well-heeled and well-funded activists here in the UK have their way. A battle for the heart and soul of the Church of England is taking…
Tom NicholasHost
But even if you are watching from within the UK, when you think of an overlap between religion, in particular Christianity, and politics, you probably think of the US.
Most recently, J.D. Vance has been leading the charge in re-injecting Christianity into the heart of Republican politics.
Vance recently published a whole book called Communion, Finding My Way Back to Faith, which, like all politicians' books, is at least in part an attempt to position himself as the next President of the United States.
The US's so-called Secretary of War has also embraced his religion as both part of his doing of the job of Secretary of War and as part of his public persona.
Hegseth has introduced monthly worship services in the Pentagon, a move which has since spread to other US political departments including the Department of Labour, Department of Agriculture and Small Business Administration.
Which, like, if you head up the Small Business Administration, you are absolutely a candidate for designated survivor.
Like, that is absolutely the sort of person that they're like, sorry, you can miss out on the State of the Union, but you might become president if everything goes wrong.
But neither has this fusing of religion and politics in America been entirely confined to the Republicans.
James Tallarico, the Democratic nominee for Texas' U.S. Senate seat, has similarly foregrounded his faith in his campaigning.
His interpretation of Christianity obviously clashes quite considerably with that of J.D. Vance and Pete Hegseth, but he has very much foregrounded the fact that his religion and politics are deeply interlinked in his campaigning.
Now, things like church services being held in the Pentagon are deeply controversial within the US.
Despite the fact that America is, on the whole, far, far more religious than the UK, the First Amendment mandates a constitutional separation of church and state, which these services, at the very least, seem to risk breaking.
And look, there is a whole question about whether the original intent of the First Amendment's banning of a state religion was about ensuring a specific denomination of Christianity didn't get the upper hand rather than about ensuring no religion ever had any involvement in the government.
The UK is significantly less religious and, in particular, less Christian than America.
The Pew Research Centre reports that 62% of American adults describe themselves as Christians of some flavour.
It's also worth taking into account that a significant proportion of people who say that they're religious in the US are in some way quite actively religious.
44% of US adults report praying at least once a day, whereas in the UK that's less than 10%.
For a significant number of those, 46% of people who declared themselves to be Christian on the last UK census is as much about a sort of cultural heritage as it is about a sort of lived religious practice.
All of which has meant that religion has sort of played an ever-decreasing role, at least on the surface, of political life.
Andy Burnham, for instance, made history this year when he became the UK's first Catholic Prime Minister.
But even if you are watching from within the UK, when you think of an overlap between religion, in particular Christianity, and politics, you probably think of the US.
Most recently, J.D. Vance has been leading the charge in re-injecting Christianity into the heart of Republican politics.
Vance recently published a whole book called Communion, Finding My Way Back to Faith, which, like all politicians' books, is at least in part an attempt to position himself as the next President of the United States.
The US's so-called Secretary of War has also embraced his religion as both part of his doing of the job of Secretary of War and as part of his public persona.
Hegseth has introduced monthly worship services in the Pentagon, a move which has since spread to other US political departments including the Department of Labour, Department of Agriculture and Small Business Administration.
Which, like, if you head up the Small Business Administration, you are absolutely a candidate for designated survivor.
Like, that is absolutely the sort of person that they're like, sorry, you can miss out on the State of the Union, but you might become president if everything goes wrong.
But neither has this fusing of religion and politics in America been entirely confined to the Republicans.
James Tallarico, the Democratic nominee for Texas' U.S. Senate seat, has similarly foregrounded his faith in his campaigning.
His interpretation of Christianity obviously clashes quite considerably with that of J.D. Vance and Pete Hegseth, but he has very much foregrounded the fact that his religion and politics are deeply interlinked in his campaigning.
Now, things like church services being held in the Pentagon are deeply controversial within the US.
Despite the fact that America is, on the whole, far, far more religious than the UK, the First Amendment mandates a constitutional separation of church and state, which these services, at the very least, seem to risk breaking.
And look, there is a whole question about whether the original intent of the First Amendment's banning of a state religion was about ensuring a specific denomination of Christianity didn't get the upper hand rather than about ensuring no religion ever had any involvement in the government.
The UK is significantly less religious and, in particular, less Christian than America.
The Pew Research Centre reports that 62% of American adults describe themselves as Christians of some flavour.
It's also worth taking into account that a significant proportion of people who say that they're religious in the US are in some way quite actively religious.
44% of US adults report praying at least once a day, whereas in the UK that's less than 10%.
For a significant number of those, 46% of people who declared themselves to be Christian on the last UK census is as much about a sort of cultural heritage as it is about a sort of lived religious practice.
All of which has meant that religion has sort of played an ever-decreasing role, at least on the surface, of political life.
Andy Burnham, for instance, made history this year when he became the UK's first Catholic Prime Minister.
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