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Cults, Martyrs and Good Samaritans

Cults, Martyrs and Good Samaritans

James Crossley

(2018)

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Abstract

James Crossley holds a mirror up to English politics, examining how Christianity is often used to legitimise ideological positions and parties.

From the paternalistic Christianity used to justify ever-intensifiying neoliberalism, to the ethnonationalist and economic protectionist Christianity of Theresa May and Brexit, and encompassing the socialist constructions of Christianity by Jeremy Corbyn and a resurgent Left, Crossley guides us through politics' love affair with Christianity.

Drawing on interviews with politicians, leave and remain voters, activists, and revolutionaries, Crossley reveals how religion is linked to positions relating to class, capitalism and foreign policy: obfuscating potential causes of unrest, justifying military intervention and challenging dominant class interests.
'Crossley shifts decisively to analysing the last decade of English politics and its intersections with religion - all in the context of Brexit, Islam and the rediscovery of a socialist left. Sharp analysis, insights aplenty, a major contribution to serious political debate in the UK'
Roland Boer, Xin Ao Distinguished Overseas Professor at Renmin University of China, Beijing, Research Professor at the University of Newcastle

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Cover Cover
Contents v
Introduction 1
1. Religion in English Political Discourse, 1979-2017: A Brief History 10
2. Brexit Means Christmas, Christmas Means Socialism, and a Time for 'Homosexual Sex': Shifting Notions of Religion from the Frontbenches 30
3. Muslims, the 'Perversion of Islam', and Christian England on the (Far) Right 65
4. Brexit Barrow: Religion in Real Time During a Summer of Political Chaos 99
5. Manufacturing Dissent from the Centre: Cults, Corbyn and the Guardian 132
6. Red Apocalypticism on the Corbynite Left: Martyrdom, Rojava and the Bob Crow Brigade 162
Epilogue 200
Notes 206
Index 234