According to a poll carried out by Ipsos-Mori for the Richard Dawkins Foundation for
Reason and Science, half of those in Britain who say they
are Christian rarely go to church while nearly 60% do not read the
Bible. Such statistics allow Dawkins to claim that Britain is not the Christian nation which some claim it to be, based on the fact that more than 50% of the population still identify themselves as 'Christian' when asked about their religion.
Frankly, I am really uneasy when anyone claims that this is still a Christian nation, because my experience says that it manifestly is not, and so I am not surprised at the result of this latest poll. Reading the Bible and going to church are not essential for salvation, which is through faith in Christ and not through good works, however they are a pretty good indicator as to whether someone is a genuine Christian or not. Dawkins therefore has a point when he claims that Christianity is not as prevalent as some would make out. However, the fact that a significant number of people in this country still tick 'Christian' as opposed to 'atheist' or 'none' when asked about their religion does mean something. They may not be born again, they may not be practising Christians, but they are still comfortable with being labelled as a Christian and the backlash currently under way against militant secularism is a reflection of this.
I do not believe that we should be imposing Christianity on the nation, as I said in my last post, however I do believe that Christians should be involved in public life and should encourage people to live by God's laws. It is an absolute fallacy to suggest that anyone, whatever their faith, can so compartmentalise their life as to leave their faith out of it when they go into their job, be it as a politician, councillor, doctor, teacher or whatever. Your religion or belief system is integral to your life, it influences all your opinions and decisions and secularists are not exempt from this rule. Christians should not be ashamed of their faith and should not be bullied into keeping it 'just for Sundays'. It applies to all the other days of the week too.
If there is one thing above all which the great British public hates, it is intolerance. Hopefully, the increasing aggressiveness of the secularists will be self-defeating in just the same way as attempts to impose Christian morals on the public have been.
