Richard Dawkins appeared on the Today programme recently to say that the finding of the 2001 census that 70% of the population identify themselves as Christian cannot be used to claim that Britain remains a Christian country. He based his argument on the results of an Ipsos MORI poll commissioned by his Foundation. This reveals that only a very small percentage of those who see themselves as Christian say it is because they believe in what Christianity teaches. They say it is because they have Christian parents or were baptised or go to Church sometimes. This leads Dawkins to say that the claim that we are a Christian country is false and that, therefore, the privileged place of Christianity in education, the House of Lords and so forth cannot be justified. Nothing could better illustrate the one-dimensional nature of his thinking. Continue reading