“A wind is blowing”

Danny Kruger, a conservative member of British Parliament from East Wiltshire, which lies between Bath and Oxford, recently delivered a powerful message concerning the fundamental importance of Christianity to his nation’s vitality and very existence. Viewed more than 3 million times, British commentator David Campanale declared the speech to be “a roadmap for a Christian counter-revolution” in the United Kingdom.

On July 17, in the old chamber of the House of Commons, Kruger began, “It is an honour to stand here in this empty Chamber to speak about the original purpose of this space, when it was a chapel in the Church of England.”

Giving an important history lesson, Kruger explained to essentially no one listening at the time, “When I speak of the Church of England today, I am not speaking about the internal politics of the Anglican sect; I speak of the common creed of our country, the official religion of the English and the British nation, and the institution—older than the monarchy, and much older than Parliament—which made this country.”

Kruger was reminding his country not just of its past, but its founding and vitality, that which gave it its influence in the world. This includes the spread of a common language, learning, and an understanding of basic human rights. The Berkeley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. explains, “Christianity has played a major, formative role in the development of England, Scotland, and Wales since its arrival in the British Isles in the first century” eventually replacing its dark and deadly paganism. Kruger echoed this in his speech, proclaiming, “The story of England is the story of Christianity operating on a people to make the institutions and culture that have been uniquely stable and successful.”

Kruger then bluntly explained how this is no longer the case. That influence is being squandered because England, through its increasingly lifeless and apostate Church, has lost its way and moral influence.

He thundered, “It is no surprise that both the Church and the country itself are in a bad way, divided, internally confused and badly led.” He added, “The country itself reflects that—unclear in its doctrines and its governance, profoundly precarious, chronically exposed to threats from without and within.” This failure has broad consequences: “It is at risk economically, culturally, socially and, I would say, morally.”

He then boldly reminded his nation how ghastly this slide has been of late. “Last month, in the space of three days in one infamous week, this House authorized the killing of unborn children—of nine-month-old babies—and it passed a bill to allow the killing of the elderly and disabled.” Kruger was modeling a modern-day Wilberforce, reminding his nation of their duty to stand for and protect the basic human rights of the most obviously oppressed.

He hammered the point home, “We gave our consent to the greatest crime: the killing of the weak and most defenseless human beings.” He told his peers and the world, “It was a great sin” and that if “standing here, I have any power to repent on behalf of this House, I hereby repent of what we did.”

He then gave his nation a lesson in their shared responsibility of governance. “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.” This is a message very close to the daily work and thinking of Kruger, who is also the author of Covenant: The New Politics of Home, Neighborhood and Nation (Forum, 2023).

“The Jewish and Christian God is a God of nations” Kruger noted. Not a nation, but nations, plural. God is a god of peoples and their value and dignity. He mourned that this idea is now being threatened by two new influences in his country: Islam and “one that does not have a proper name,” explaining that he doesn’t think “‘woke’ does justice to its seriousness.”

Christians throughout the world must note Kruger’s observation. Of his own country, Kruger held, “this is a Christian country—if it is a country at all—and I cannot be indifferent to the extent of the growth of Islam in recent decades.” It is the other nameless one that concerns him even more, as it is “a combination of ancient paganism, Christian heresies and the cult of modernism, all mashed up into a deeply mistaken and deeply dangerous ideology of power that is hostile to the essential objects of our affections and our loyalties: families, communities and nations.” It is this belief system that has led to the most severe loss of basic human rights and freedoms in his country. Its influence is felt throughout the West. He continued, “That religion, unlike Islam, must simply be destroyed, at least as a public doctrine.”

Like a prophet, Kruger warned that “a wind is blowing, a storm is coming, and when it hits, we are going to learn if our house is built on rock or on sand.” In conclusion, he noted, “The fact is that the strong gods are back, and we have to choose which god to worship.” He told his nation and its leaders, “I suggest we worship the God who came in the weakest form, Jesus Christ.” For that is the faith that made his nation great, and that influence spread to the rest of the world. “A new restoration is needed now” Kruger resolved.

His words are true for all nations and all peoples. We should all heed them in our nations, homes, and lives. May we pray for more clear thinking, strong voiced leaders like Danny Kruger MP.

You can read the full text of Kruger’s remarkable speech here.