A BBC poll suggests that most people want religion and the values derived from it to play an important role in British public life.
Of 1,045 people questioned by ComRes, 62% were in favour.
Meanwhile, 63% of those questioned agreed that laws should respect and be influenced by the UK's traditional religious values.
The findings contrast with calls from some politicians and secularist groups to exclude faith from the public arena.
Guiding principles
A significantly greater proportion of the Muslims and Hindus polled (albeit in relatively small numbers) supported a strong role in public life for the UK's (essentially Christian) traditional religious values.
The findings support other evidence of an alliance between people of different faith groups in resisting secularism. Many Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and members of other minority religious groups would rather have a Christian-based framework to national life, than one that is entirely secular.
The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor warned a few years ago that Christianity was "all but vanquished" as the guiding principle for Britain's moral framework.
Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor argued that Christian beliefs - such as the sanctity of human life and the rule "do as you would be done by" - should continue to underpin the behaviour of Britons.
Church leaders have warned that recent legislation has elevated goals such as freedom from discrimination for homosexual people, above the freedom of religion.
The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams warned that the government was using legislation to control people's morals as well as their behaviour.
Secularists, including an increasingly militant atheist movement, have stepped up their campaign to "free" the public from what they see as the burden of a lingering attachment to religious belief.
There have been advertisements on the sides of buses, and in the last few days, a network of student humanist associations has been inaugurated.
In response to the poll, the British Humanist Association issued a statement saying that many of society's values had a humanist, as well as a religious basis.
The Association's Director of Education and Public Affairs, Andrew Copson, also raised the wording of the questions:
"If the poll had suggested religious "values" such as no divorce, no sex outside of marriage and no stem cell research, it is inconceivable that many of the respondents would have agreed with the question."
However, the BBC poll indicates that even at a time when baptisms, church weddings and attendance at Sunday services are declining, people are unwilling for secularism to displace religion altogether.
They may be dubious about specific religious beliefs, and unwilling to accept the teaching of religious organisations about how they should lead their lives, but the survey suggests they are not yet ready to cast God out of public life.
I doubt Osman, that the supporters of secularism are all against some "religious values", I doubt absolute secularism is anything that can be achieved or that anyone really thinks it can.
Religion and/or spirituality has always been a part in a society of people, not to speak of a society filled with people of diverse ethnicity and different backgrounds.
And just a side note, statistics... people may understand questions differently and only 1,045 were asked of how many people now live in the UK.
Last edited by Al-Zaara; 02-28-2009 at 09:18 AM.
“If only I had checked myself”
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True leaders don't create followers...
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I doubt Osman, that the supporters of secularism are all against some "religious values", I doubt absolute secularism is anything that can be achieved or that anyone really thinks it can.
Religion and/or spirituality has always been a part in a society of people, not to speak of a society filled with people of diverse ethnicity and different backgrounds.
And just a side note, statistics... people may understand questions differently and only 1,045 were asked of how many people now live in the UK.
Yes, very good points.
I'm interested in how the atheists/secularists of this group react to this.
"I spent thirty years learning manners, and I spent twenty years learning knowledge."
Secularism is not opposed to 'religious values'. It is opposed to the enforcement of particular sub-sets of religious values on people who do not share them, and the only way to do that fairly to everybody is to apply it across the board. However, and it's a BIG 'however,' it should be remembered that most of what are commonly held to be 'religious' values are not only common across most religions, but also to atheists and agnostics. That's why I don't really read to much into this.
The fairness point is essential. I doubt many muslims in Britain would be happy if certain fundamentalist Christian 'values' were enforced on all citizens! I think there is a common misunderstanding as to what secularism actually is, and how it came about. It is not some synonym for atheism, or an attempt to exclude religion, God (the two don't necessarily go together!), or 'religious values'. It is to allow people of different (or no) religion or religious denomination to get along where otherwise conflict might arise. That was the basis for secular government in both the United States and the UK.
Secularism is not opposed to 'religious values'. It is opposed to the enforcement of particular sub-sets of religious values on people who do not share them, and the only way to do that fairly to everybody is to apply it across the board. However, and it's a BIG 'however,' it should be remembered that most of what are commonly held to be 'religious' values are not only common across most religions, but also to atheists and agnostics. That's why I don't really read to much into this.
The fairness point is essential. I doubt many muslims in Britain would be happy if certain fundamentalist Christian 'values' were enforced on all citizens! I think there is a common misunderstanding as to what secularism actually is, and how it came about. It is not some synonym for atheism, or an attempt to exclude religion, God (the two don't necessarily go together!), or 'religious values'. It is to allow people of different (or no) religion or religious denomination to get along where otherwise conflict might arise. That was the basis for secular government in both the United States and the UK.
Points well taken. Would it be fair to say that most, if not all atheists are likely to be secularists too?
"I spent thirty years learning manners, and I spent twenty years learning knowledge."
Points well taken. Would it be fair to say that most, if not all atheists are likely to be secularists too?
Absolutely, they would have to be really. I wouldn't say 'all' if only because, in theory at least, it would be quite possible to have a Buddhist 'theocracy'.. strictly speaking the word doesn't apply, but you get my drift.
And Islam is rising. Most, however, are Atheists. Nevertheless, the Muslim population is 'rising 10 times faster than the rest of society'. See here for more details.
"I spent thirty years learning manners, and I spent twenty years learning knowledge."
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