Over 100 people joined the APPG on Faith and Society at Portcullis House for the report launch of Questions of Hope and Hate: Faith and Faultlines in a Changing Britain, a new report from Hope Not Hate and Good Faith Partnership, on 12 January 2026.
Anna Dixon MP, Officer of APPG on Faith and Society and Chair of APPG on Christians on Left opened the session, and described the new report as excellent and of painting a challenging picture of faith and politics offering practical recommendations, during a time of rising in hate crimes, Antisemitism and Islamophobia, also noting the worrying rise of the rhetoric of far right and Christian symbolism that needs to be understood more and challenged.
Paul Bickley, report co-author thanked Good Faith Partnership, Lord Rook OBE and Tabitha Von Kaufmann for their role in the production of the report, underlined that the report is a temperature check, with research being carried out in November 2025 with senior faith leaders.
The author gave short overviews of the three main sections of the reports:
- The Political Domain: A declining trust in politics and low trust in institutions. Communities are frustrated with the inability of politics to deliver long term security. There is a sense of shared marginalism – many groups feel they are not heard or engaged with. Muslim leaders speak of cohesion problems Jewish leaders spoke of fear. Few felt well understood by government.
- The Intra-Religious Domain: Christian affiliation has gone down, but immigration has brought new diversity to Christianity. Generations are shaping religious identity – sometimes more progressive others renewed Conservatism. Women remain underrepresented in leadership.
- The Inter-Religious Domain: The Inter faith sphere is going through unprecedented change, for example the loss of the Inter Faith Network. This type of work carries more moral and political weight than ever – it is core civic work essential to public wellbeing.
Questions and Answers
Nick Lowles MBE, of Hope not Hate joined Paul Bickley to take questions from the attendees. Questions included:
Q Co-option or co-operation – is there a danger of co-opting?
A The report was always intended to be a temperature check in real time . With regards to co-option, government and faith groups will always be in complex negotiation. Faith leaders need to use all their wisdom to negotiate new scenarios
Q What is the role for the media?
A The media needs to report differently, but it is also the responsibility for faith to offer stories and other narratives to the media. Hope Not Hate are working on campaign called a Million Acts of Hope, which will aim to celebrate at local level to counter the national narrative.
Q Is there a case for academic study at a deeper level?
A More work is needed – this is ongoing. Certainly, a need for a deeper dive but it is just as important to find out about the here and now.
Panel Discussion with Aliya Azam MBE, Rabbi David Mason, Chine McDonald and Lord Raval OBE included:
- Religious literacy: At present faith literacy is not part of public training – the report mentions the need for religious literacy to be defined.
- Inter and intra faith: There is a complicated layering of inter and infra faith – all faiths are very diverse and cannot just be represented by one group.
- Politicisation: Political selectionism, populist politicians that latch on to favourite minority and vilifying others – to the point of being racist even if the person is not/says they are not.
- Multiculturalism: Under pressure due to institutional care weaking – people feel sidelined and dismissed. May also lead to cultural loss.
- Gender: Women are doing everyday work on cohesion while remaining underrepresented in faith leadership. Mismatch between grassroots level – echo call for investment in leadership development. Praise for women’s faith forum.
- Faith as a resource: The government doesn’t sufficiently understand that faith is a resource, there is a big disconnect.
The event continued with a further audience discussion, including the following points:
- There is not enough sharing of best practice
- Present and past government faith ministers are very different, on the ground compared to strategic
- There is a need for inter religious dialogue rather than inter faith and the church is well placed to do this
- Information sharing and mapping at a local level is happening but need to be more – people need to know what local faith setting to go to if they need support.
- Faith communities have work to do to celebrate the leaders and work within their own traditions at a local level.
Zöe Franklin MP, Chair of the APPG on Faith and Society then closed the session, thanking all that were involved, and underlined that Britain is at crucial point in history where faith can be force of division or positivity. She mentioned upcoming work on and academic evaluation of the Faith Covenant, then closed the meeting.
Parliamentarians in attendance:
- Anna Dixon MP, Officer of APPG on Faith and Society
- Baroness Elizabeth Berridge
- Darren Paffey MP
- Dawn Butler MP
- Liam Conlon MP
- Margaret Mullane MP
- Lord Raval OBE
- Lord Rees
- Lord Rook OBE
- Rushanara Ali MP
- Sam Rushworth MP
- Sarah Smith MP
- Stephen Timms MP
- Zöe Franklin MP, Chair of APPG on Faith and Society
