Churchill, Islam, and Christianity

What the great Churchill thought about the main religions:

Much has been said about all three of the topics found in my title. In an earlier companion piece I also looked at what Churchill thought about Israel, the Jews and Western civilisation: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2026/09/27/churchill-the-jews-and-western-civilisation/

Here I tackle his views on Christianity and Islam as covered by Ibn Warraq in his new volume, Churchill’s Secular Creed: Empire, Zionism, and Islam’s Complicity in the Holocaust (World Encounter Institute/New English Review Press, 2026).

Islam

As for Churchill’s views on Islam, Warraq offers this important insight: Churchill was able to recognise and deal with the fanaticism of the Nazis because he had first encountered the fanaticism of Islam back in 1897 when he was in India. Says Warraq:

Churchill’s encounter with religious fanaticism was to prove crucial in his later assessment of Hitler, as Roberts put it, “His writings about Islamic fundamentalism prepared him for the fanaticism of the Nazis.” This conclusion is not at all as absurd as it may at first sound. For Islamic fanaticism shared many features – “its sheer implacability, contempt for Christianity, opposition to liberal Western values, addiction of violence, demand for total allegiance” with the political zealotry of the Nazis, something successive British Prime Ministers had never encountered, and thus were not intellectually or politically capable of recognising its true nature in the 1930s. Churchill, on the other hand, had already encountered fanaticism in the 1890s, and hence knew its true character from early on. (p. 142)

And Warraq shares this well-known quote of Churchill’s:

“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries, improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement, the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property – either as a child, a wife, or a concubine – must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Muslims may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science – the science against which it had vainly struggled – the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.” (pp. 198-199)

He goes on to say this:

Some Muslims may find it offensive, but each one of Churchill’s crushing observations about Islam and Islamic society can be justified by concrete examples from the Koran or from actual Islamic society. “For Islam,” as the French philosopher Michel Onfray [born 1959] said, “is structurally archaic, contradicting point by point everything the philosophy of the Enlightenment has achieved in Europe since the eighteenth century. In other words, condemnation of superstition, rejection of intolerance, abolition of censorship, resistance to tyranny, opposition to political absolutism, an end to state religion, proscription of magical thinking, extension of freedom of thought and expression, promulgation of equal rights, the notion that all law arises from contractual immanence, the wish for social happiness here and now, the aspiration toward the universal reign of reason. Sura by sura, the Koran clearly states its opposition to them all. (p. 199)

Christianity

Before proceeding, it should be pointed out that while Warraq has been a strong critic of Islam – and rightly so – he does so from a position of atheism. Thus his quote from the atheist Onfray just above. In this he differs from someone like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who began as a Muslim, then turned to atheism, and now is an outspoken Christian.

So not all will agree with what Warraq has to say about Churchill and Christianity. So let me quote a bit more from his book on this matter and then bring in a few others to offer a somewhat different point of view. Chapter 13 of the book is titled “Churchill’s Religious Beliefs and Sense of Destiny.”

Some of his earlier remarks can be challenged, such as this one: “Churchill had no belief in any revealed religion, though he was a nominal Anglican.” (p. 113) And another:

Churchill simply lacked any religious sense, though he always spoke with respect of the Church of England, and counted many friends who were deeply religious, such as Lord Hugh Cecil [1869-1956], who for instance, resisted attempts to oust bishops from the House of Lords. Churchill saw “the church as a bulwark of social stability and warmed to the historic connections of Anglicanism with the birth of the English nation.” (p. 116)

Warraq did see Churchill’s strong sense of destiny to protect and preserve Western civilisation, and to recognise that this was connected to Christianity:

Sir Winston always thought of Western civilisation as a “Christian civilisation” as when, for example, he spoke in the House of Commons in June 1940: “I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian Civilisation.” He certainly believed that the West was undergirded by “Christian Ethics”: “It is no exaggeration to say that the future of the whole world and the hopes of a broadening civilization founded upon Christian Ethics depend upon the relations between the British Empire or Commonwealth of Nations and the USA.” And again: “We can find nothing better than Christian ethics on which to build and the more closely we follow the Sermon on the Mount, the more likely we are to succeed in our endeavours.” Churchill was, of course, referring to Christian principles rather than the Christian religion. While he was firmly attached to Christendom, he had no faith in Christianity.

 

In a speech he gave in Boston on 31 March 1949, Churchill underlines the importance of Christian ethics: “And here I speak not only to those who enjoy the blessings and consolation of revealed religion but also to those who face the mysteries of human destiny alone. The flame of Christian ethics is still our highest guide. To guard and cherish it is our first interest, both spiritually and materially. The fulfilment of spiritual duty in our daily life is vital to our survival. Only by bringing it into perfect application can we hope to solve for ourselves the problems of this world and not of this world alone.”

 

On Jesus Christ, Churchill had this to say: “Christ’s story was unequalled, and his death to save sinners unsurpassed; moreover, the Sermon on the Mount was the last word in ethics.” (p. 117)

As I mentioned, the Indian-born Warraq is an atheist. Other writers are not as cynical about Churchill’s faith. For example, Stephen Mansfield penned a volume on Churchill and his greatness back in 1997. In 2004 it was re-released as The Character and Greatness of Winston Churchill: Hero in a Time of Crisis (Cumberland House Publishing). As he said early on in the book:

When the time came, Winston Churchill was ready to be among [the great leaders]. He knew he was destined to play a decisive role in the history of his times. He was eager to stand shoulder to shoulder with the visionaries and men of power who would forge the new century. Yet, from the beginning, something set Churchill apart from the other leaders of his time, and few, including at times Churchill himself, really understood why. In fact, even his biographers have failed to see it clearly, though the difference is actually a simple one. The fact is that, in an age of mounting skepticism, Winston Churchill was a man of faith, a man who lived in the light of a vision unfashionably rooted in Scripture and centered in a sovereign God. He was a Christian, a man who passionately believed in the existence of truth, the reality of God, the power of His church, and the culture it produces. Indeed, Churchill had an almost romantic attachment to the ideal of Christendom. He saw himself as its knight. He saw the British Empire as its standard-bearer. And he saw history as a conflict between Christendom and the forces of blackest paganism. (p. 34)

And Mansfield further argued in a recent piece that Churchill was most certainly a believing Christian: “the truth is that Winston Churchill was a Christian, a man of fierce faith, and our generation should be deeply grateful that he was.” He went on to say this:

Official biographer Martin Gilbert concluded that Churchill had read the Bible through at least sixteen times in his life. It was a devotional life to rival that of some clergymen. Did he believe it? Yes. He wrote that he was “unmoved” by those who viewed scripture as myth and insisted “we may be sure that all these things happened just as they are set out according to Holy Writ.” He concluded, “We rest with assurance upon ‘The impregnable rock of Holy Scripture.’” It was with great delight, then, that at his grandson’s christening party, Churchill toasted the boy with the words, “Christ’s new faithful soldier and servant.” This was an apt description of Churchill himself. https://institutefc.org/winston-churchill-mentor-for-our-times/

And mention can be made of a book by Jonathan Sandys and Wallace Henley: God & Churchill (Tyndale House, 2015). In it a great grandson of Churchill (Sandys) and a Christian columnist (Henley) made it clear that he had an unmistakeable sense of divine destiny from a very early age, and this sense of purpose and mission sustained him and helped to keep the West free from tyranny – both from Hitler and Stalin. https://billmuehlenberg.com/2016/02/18/the-only-hope-for-the-west/

Having said that, I still recommend the new Warraq volume, and his many other important volumes on Islam. I list some of his other books here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2025/12/20/recommended-reading-on-islam-non-christian-authors/

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