Tuesday, November 10, 2026

I ‘rejected God’ for answering my stupid prayers: Kemi Badenoch

Mrs Badenoch said, “I would still define myself as a cultural Christian.”

• August 8, 2025
Kemi Badenoch (Credit: UK Guardian)
Kemi Badenoch (Credit: UK Guardian)

Leader of UK Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, said she lost her faith in God when she realised her stupid prayers were answered while God delayed answering the prayer of someone in captivity for over two decades.

Mrs Badenoch, in an interview with BBC on Thursday, said she ‘rejected God’ but remained a Christian after watching the story of Josef Fritzl, the Australian man who kept his daughter captive for 24 years in a dungeon underground in his house.

“I couldn’t stop reading this story. And I read her account, how she prayed every day to be rescued. And I thought, I was praying for all sorts of stupid things, and I was getting my prayers answered,” Mrs Badenoch said.

She stated, “I was praying to have good grades, my hair should grow longer, and I would pray for the bus to come on time so I wouldn’t miss something. It’s like, why were those prayers answered, and not this woman’s prayers? And it was like someone blew out a candle.”

The Tory leader added, “I rejected God, not Christianity. So, I would still define myself as a cultural Christian.”

Mrs Badenoch also recounted in the interview how she reported her classmate cheating in an exam but got no “praise” for it.

Forty-five-year-old Mrs Badenoch’s submission last week that she was no longer a Nigerian elicited from many Nigerians.

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