Rhetoric and Multiculturalism — David Cameron’s ‘King James’ Speech and the Crisis of Multiculturalism

Abstract

At the end of a year of celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Version of the Bible, David Cameron gave a speech to a gathering of Church of England Clergy in 2011. This chapter will provide an examination of how his speech sought to use the rhetorical elements of ethos, pathos and logos in its account of the need for Britain to be more clearly asserted as a Christian country. This argument needs to be put in the context both of a political discourse of the ‘crisis’ of national identity in Britain, as well as arguments against multiculturalism that hold multicultural policies responsible for causing (or at least failing to counter) religious extremism and terrorism. National identity has long been understood within sociology and allied disciplines as an act of creation and narration. It requires the production of a sense of common culture and belonging for a mass of people who may otherwise have many differences between them. Rhetoric can play an important role in the speeches of national leaders in creating this sense of common interest and culture, and also feelings of belonging. Therefore a rhetorical analysis of the speeches of those politicians who rely on a notion of a shared national culture is very illuminating.