Religious leaders worry that faith is being marginalised

From the Church Times (England)

RELIGIOUS faith in Britain is more marginal to society than ever before, faith leaders believe, says a report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) published this week. The report, Faith in the Nation: Religion, identity and the public realm in Britain today, is a collection of essays by Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh religious leaders.

In his foreword, Gordon Brown says that Britain has had a strong Christian tradition, but is now “resolutely multifaith”. The debate about the place of faith in British society is “a national conversation” from which people should not “shy away”.

But contributors to the report say that there are signs “of a growing consensus . . . that the position of faith within the national public culture has become more marginal”.
In the name of multiculturalism, politicians had responded to new religions and cultures that came to Britain as though each had a fixed identity. They saw them as “static silos rather than dynamic communities possessing complex and changeable identities”, Professor Michael Kenny says in the report’s conclusion.

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=67501