Clwyd West MS and Chair of the Senedd’s Cross Party Group on Faith, Darren Millar, hosted a talk this week ‘Resisting the rise of the radical right: a challenge to the church’ and promoted a book ‘The Church, the Far Right and the Claim to Christianity’, which is due to be released in September.

The event was organised by the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence, an international study group based in Bristol. A key area of their work is “studying and resisting the weaponisation of the Bible”.

Previously, the Centre has looked at issues like domestic abuse, Israel-Palestine, and gun control.

The event was presented by Revd Dr Helen Paynter and Dr Maria Power.

Revd Paynter is the Centre’s director, as well as Tutor in Biblical Studies and Director of Theological Education at Bristol Baptist College.

Commenting after the event, Darren said:

“It was a great pleasure to host this event in the Senedd to consider the UK church’s response to the growing threat of extremist groups.

“With the assistance of a grant from the British Academy, the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence conducted a multi-disciplinary consultation in May 2023, bringing together the voices of practitioners, academics, Christian theologians, and people of other faiths, to examine this question from a broad range of perspectives.

“Out of that consultation, they will soon publish an edited book, The Church, the Far Right, and the Claim to Christianity, which concludes a concrete set of ten proposals for the UK church.

“In anticipation of that publication, and in the light of the current political situation, the Centre were keen to hold this event to showcase these proposals to politicians and senior church leaders, with the aim of stimulating discussion and action.”