It's not surprising that the Church of England tried to put a brave face on it, choosing to headline a tiny increase of 4.3% in christenings, but the Anglican church attendance figures for 2011 published this week pose a serious challenge for any church defending its position as...

There is extensive academic evidence that the census question on religion heavily inflates the number of religious people because the text of the question, 'What is Your Religion?' presumes and positively encourages a religious response. That's why it's so surprising that today's figures from the 2011 census show such a...

Andrew Brown, in a Guardian blog last week, criticised the British Humanist Association (BHA) for promoting humanism as an essentially negative approach to life defined by what it isn't and for being on an incoherent and self-defeating mission to eliminate all social bonds, based on an outmoded view...

His own determined advocacy, the effective use of the media to promote his cause, and the ongoing eloquent, ethical and dignified support of his wife and daughters have guaranteed that Tony Nicklinson's death has not been the end of the public debate he reignited.

In the debate, though, there has...

Pressure is building in favour of reform of Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, which outlaws 'insulting words or behaviour'. Today, an amendment will be put forward in the House of Lords which proposes that the word 'insulting' should be removed from the Act, and the government is...

...does that mean it's okay to go ahead in Northern Ireland and Wales where the Church isn't established anyway?

...does it mean that removal of the Bishops from the House of Lords (the last thing we were told would mean disestablishment) wouldn't actually mean disestablishment and we can go ahead...

This week we learned that the parliamentary committee considering reform of the House of Lords voted 13-7 to support the government's plan for automatic places for Bishops to remain in a reformed chamber.

They will be reduced in number from 26 to 12, but since the total number of appointed...

To call Britain a 'Christian country' is only marginally more sensible than calling Italy a 'Roman country' and it was appropriate that Baroness Warsi made her most recent rallying cry against secularism amongst all the archaic pomp of the Vatican state. As a simple factual statement the 'Christian country' line...