Britain is not a religious country - BHA comments on Guardian / ICM poll

I covered this poll here.

The British Humanist Association (BHA) has welcomed the results of an ICM poll published today by the Guardian which demonstrates that Britain is not a religious country.

Andrew Copson, responsible for education and public affairs at the BHA, said:

‘This is the evidence for what most people are increasingly accepting as common sense. Britain is far from being a Christian country and the churches, in spite of their continuing privileges and increasingly shrill insistences to the contrary, have lost the right to speak for Britain . Nor is it possible to claim that Britain can be defined instead as “multi-faith”, when such clear majorities disown religion. The fact that the Government does not accept this fact, but continue to define the communities of Britain in faith terms, continue to promote faith schools, and to pay unjustified attention to unrepresentative religious “leaders” must be a source of increasing frustration for many.

‘Time and again religious groups get their way against overwhelmingly public opinion. They killed off the Assisted Dying Bill, which 4 out of 5 people supported; they have won wide exemptions from equality legislation so they can continue to discriminate against gay people and those who do not share their beliefs; and they will be doing their utmost to defend their 26 unelected members of Parliament when the Government tackles Lords reform this session. Instead of promoting a false image of modern Britain, Government should instead accept the real nature of contemporary society and we should move towards a secular state in this country – a state neutral on matters of religion and belief where there are no special privileges for any belief system, and public debate can be genuinely shared by citizens of whatever religion or belief.’