According to the NFOL's official history as written by John Capon, the organisation's genesis was in November 1970, when a young couple, Peter and Janet Hill, returned to England after four years as evangelical Baptist missionaries in India.
The Hills experienced a sense of culture shock when they discovered that sexually explicit content was more prevalent in the mass media, in mid-July 1971 the NFOL was founded to oppose "pornography and moral pollution".
[1][2] Founded by the journalist and author Malcolm Muggeridge alongside "clean-up TV" campaigner Mary Whitehouse, Labour cabinet member Lord Longford and Peter and Janet Hill, the movement was opposed to what they saw as the growing trends in the mass media for the explicit depiction of sexual and violent themes and for the restoration of conservative Christian morality in the UK.
A working committee was established by Hill with Colonel Orde Dobbie (a Social Services administrator), Eddie Stride (a former shop steward and trade unionist, later the Rector of Christ Church, Spitalfields), Gordon Landreth (general secretary of the Evangelical Alliance), Rev.
Additional input was received from a larger Council of Reference which included well-known politicians, lawyers, doctors, trades unionists, bishops, ministers, and other public figures such as Dora Bryan and David Kossoff from the acting profession.
Then on 9 September, an initial rally was held in Westminster Central Hall, where the exploitation of sex and violence in the entertainment industry was denounced; the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) invaded this meeting in drag, releasing mice, sounding horns, and turning off all the lights.
Vast quantities of mail continued to pour into the organisers' office, but once they had recovered from the effort entailed in the public events, there seemed a large measure of uncertainty about the next stage, if any.
Those involved had frequently asked whether the Festival of Light should have an overtly Christian identity, or alternatively seek a wider constituency embracing all who would oppose "moral pollution".
There was also uncertainty whether the intention of the organisers was to demand stricter censorship by law, or to seek a voluntary agreement on standards with the professional regulating bodies in the broadcasting and publishing industries, or simply to persuade individuals and families that they would benefit from opting out of a culture they could not control.
Proponents claim that many Christians were persuaded to shun violent and sexually explicit films, magazines and television programmes, and to prefer newspapers lacking salacious content.
The high-profile confrontational style of the original Festival gave way to a more discreet range of initiatives assisting individuals who have suffered the consequences of the perceived moral and social breakdown in British society, and encouraging a measure of political engagement on some issues.
In September 2022, The Nationwide Festival of Light was the subject of a BBC World Service Witness History radio documentary, presented by academic and writer Katie Edwards.