On Religious Toleration
Britain is, and has been for many years a tolerant country in which people can hold and express whatever beliefs they like about religion and anything else, so long as they do not express their views in a manner which amounts to incitement to violence.
Britain is also a country whose culture and heritage has been immensely shaped by Christianity and in which, according to the last Gallop poll, 59% of residents describe themselves as Christian. In that sense describing Britain as a christian country is a statement of the obvious, though most christian churches would be the first to point out that in the sense of living up to the values taught by Jesus most of us have a very long way to go before we could make such a claim.
When the Prime Minister made a recent speech encouraging Christians to have confidence in their beliefs he was very careful to emphasise that he was not "doing down" other religions or saying that it was wrong to follow another faith or to have no faith at all.
His comments certainly do not appear to have offended people of faiths other than Christianity. Farook Murad, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain said nobody could deny that the UK remains a largely Christian country with "deep historical and structural links" to Christianity. He added that the UK would be stronger by recognising and celebrating people of multiple faiths and of no faith "living in harmony" - a comment which I certainly have no problem with and I'm sure David Cameron would not either.
Anil Bhanot of the Hindu Council UK said he was "very comfortable" with the recognition of the UK as a Christian country and added that many Hindu people in this country enjoy celebrating Christmas and Easter.
It is, unfortunately, not entirely unknown for British politicians to make an issue of their faith in a divisive way, but I honestly can't see how a reasonable person who had listened to DC's speech would have thought that is what he was doing.
So I was disappointed and surprised that the British Humanist Association decided to cause an entirely unnecessary row by organising a letter to the Daily Telegraph alleging that the PM's speech was likely to "foster alienation and division" and needlessly fuel "enervating sectarian debates".
Comparing the comment threads on reports of what the PM actually had to say with those of the reports on the British Humanist Association's letter to the Telegraph, it seems to me that the people who have just done rather more to foster sectarian debates are the BHA and the signatories to their letter.
The late Cardinal Hume once said that "Since we are all mde in the image of God, and we are all different, each person can tell me something about the nature of God which nobody else can."
That is why religious believers should respect the views of people of other faiths and of none. But it is not an argument for refusing to be open and honest about their faith.
And you know what? The same principle can be stood on it's head and applied from a humanist perspective. How about "Since we all live in this Universe, and we are all different, each person can tell me something about this Universe which nobody else can."
Perhaps a message for this Easter is, let us celebrate our own faiths and beliefs without feeling the need to attack those of others.
Britain is also a country whose culture and heritage has been immensely shaped by Christianity and in which, according to the last Gallop poll, 59% of residents describe themselves as Christian. In that sense describing Britain as a christian country is a statement of the obvious, though most christian churches would be the first to point out that in the sense of living up to the values taught by Jesus most of us have a very long way to go before we could make such a claim.
When the Prime Minister made a recent speech encouraging Christians to have confidence in their beliefs he was very careful to emphasise that he was not "doing down" other religions or saying that it was wrong to follow another faith or to have no faith at all.
His comments certainly do not appear to have offended people of faiths other than Christianity. Farook Murad, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain said nobody could deny that the UK remains a largely Christian country with "deep historical and structural links" to Christianity. He added that the UK would be stronger by recognising and celebrating people of multiple faiths and of no faith "living in harmony" - a comment which I certainly have no problem with and I'm sure David Cameron would not either.
Anil Bhanot of the Hindu Council UK said he was "very comfortable" with the recognition of the UK as a Christian country and added that many Hindu people in this country enjoy celebrating Christmas and Easter.
It is, unfortunately, not entirely unknown for British politicians to make an issue of their faith in a divisive way, but I honestly can't see how a reasonable person who had listened to DC's speech would have thought that is what he was doing.
So I was disappointed and surprised that the British Humanist Association decided to cause an entirely unnecessary row by organising a letter to the Daily Telegraph alleging that the PM's speech was likely to "foster alienation and division" and needlessly fuel "enervating sectarian debates".
Comparing the comment threads on reports of what the PM actually had to say with those of the reports on the British Humanist Association's letter to the Telegraph, it seems to me that the people who have just done rather more to foster sectarian debates are the BHA and the signatories to their letter.
The late Cardinal Hume once said that "Since we are all mde in the image of God, and we are all different, each person can tell me something about the nature of God which nobody else can."
That is why religious believers should respect the views of people of other faiths and of none. But it is not an argument for refusing to be open and honest about their faith.
And you know what? The same principle can be stood on it's head and applied from a humanist perspective. How about "Since we all live in this Universe, and we are all different, each person can tell me something about this Universe which nobody else can."
Perhaps a message for this Easter is, let us celebrate our own faiths and beliefs without feeling the need to attack those of others.
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