Nigel Farage has faced a backlash from people from a range both of faith and non-faith backgrounds after criticising the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The former Ukip leader branded Justin Welby’s Christmas message “negative” in a tweet sent on Christmas day.
In his Christmas sermon, Welby spoke of finding hope in a “different kind of world, one less predictable and certain, which feels more awash with fear and division”.
He spoke of problems facing the world and called on Christians to “do what we can do, with our resources, in our time, at the age and with the capacity we have”, to try to help.
Welby also tweeted:
It seems that Farage’s comments incensed many, even those who said they were atheists or held different beliefs to Christians...
Many others also got stuck in, tweeting their support for Welby...
This isn’t the first time Welby has attracted the ire of Farage.
In September, the MEP accused the Archbishop of not being prepared to “stand up for Christian values”.
He told Sky News: “It’s a great shame that the head of our established church is not actually prepared to stand up and fight for our Christian culture in this country.
“He’s somebody else who should go too.”
This came after Welby’s comments earlier in the year when he accused Farage of “giving legitimisation to racism” with his remarks warning that migrants to the UK could spark Cologne-style sex attacks.