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Britain is a "Christian nation" and militant atheists should "get over it", according to Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.
The Conservative MP, who in the past has accused Labour of "diminishing Christianity" by suggesting there was no place for religion in politics, oversaw a change in the law in 2012 that ensured English Parish councils could not be subject to legal challenges for including prayers in public meetings.
Speaking to delegates Conservative Spring Forum in London, Pickles said that atheists should not be able to push an agenda of "politically correct intolerance", adding: "I've stopped an attempt by militant atheists to ban councils having prayers at the start of meetings if they wish."
Pickles added: "Heaven forbid. We're a Christian nation. We have an Established Church. Get over it. And don't impose your politically correct intolerance on others."
The 61-year-old Yorkshireman also compared the English Defence League, militant Islam and the "the thuggish hard left", who he said are "all as bad as each other".
Atheist Celebrities
Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt(01 of62)
"I'm probably 20 percent atheist and 80 percent agnostic," Pitt said in 2009. "I don't think anyone really knows. You'll either find out or not when you get there, until then there's no point thinking about it." His prettier half, Jolie, said in 2000: "There doesn't need to be a God for me. There's something in people that's spiritual, that's godlike. I don't feel like doing things just because people say things, but I also don't really know if it's better to just not believe in anything, either." (credit:AP)
Daniel Radcliffe (02 of62)
"I'm an atheist, but I'm very relaxed about it," the "Harry Potter" star said in 2009. "I don't preach my atheism, but I have a huge amount of respect for people like Richard Dawkins who do. Anything he does on television, I will watch." (credit:Getty Images)
Julianne Moore(03 of62)
In a 2002 interview on "Inside the Actor's Studio," Moore was asked as part of the series' questionnaire, "If heaven exists, what would you like God to say at the pearly gates?" She replied: "Well, I guess you were wrong. I do exist!"(36:45) (credit:Getty Images)
Javier Bardem(04 of62)
In an interview in 2012, Bardem was quick to say "I've always said I don't believe in God, I believe in Al Pacino." (credit:Getty Images)
Jodie Foster(05 of62)
In a 2007 interview, Foster replied to the question of whether she's religious or not by saying "I'm an atheist. But I absolutely love religions and the rituals. Even though I don't believe in God. We celebrate pretty much every religion in our family with the kids. They love it, and when they say, 'Are we Jewish?' or 'Are we Catholic?' I say, 'Well, I'm not, but you can choose when you're 18. But isn't this fun that we do seders and the Advent calendar?'" (credit:Getty Images)
Morgan Freeman(06 of62)
In 2012, when asked "Did we invent God?" Freeman replied "Yes." He then elaborated: "Has anybody ever seen hard evidence? What we get is theories from our earlier prophets. Now, people who think that God invented us think that the Earth can't be more than 6,000 years old. So I guess it's a question of belief. My belief system doesn't support a creator as such, as we can call God, who created us in His/Her/Its image." (credit:Getty Images)
Keira Knightley(07 of62)
"If only I wasn't an atheist, I could get away with anything," Knightley said in 2012. "You'd just ask for forgiveness and then you'd be forgiven." (credit:Getty Images)
Emma Thompson(08 of62)
"I'm an atheist," Thompson said in 2008. "I suppose you can call me a sort of libertarian anarchist. I regard religion with fear and suspicion. It's not enough to say that I don't believe in God. I actually regard the system as distressing: I am offended by some of the things said in the Bible and the Koran, and I refute them." (credit:Getty Images)
Billy Joel(09 of62)
In 2010, Joel was a guest on Howard Stern's radio show and when asked if he believes in God, he replied: "No. I'm an atheist." (credit:AP)
James Cameron(10 of62)
In the 2010 book "The Futurist," Cameron calls himself a "converted agnostic" and says "I've sworn off agnosticism, which I now call cowardly atheism. I've come to the position that in the complete absence of any supporting data whatsoever for the persistence of the individual in some spiritual form, it is necessary to operate under the provisional conclusion that there is no afterlife and then be ready to amend that if I find out otherwise." (credit:AP)
Janeane Garofalo(11 of62)
In 2010, Garofalo compared the Bible to a Bill O'Reilly autobiography and a children’s book authored by former President Bush, saying: "That's just three works of fiction targeted to a child-like audience." (credit:Getty Images)
Kathy Griffin(12 of62)
During her Emmy Award acceptance speech in 2007, Griffin said: "A lot of people come up here and they thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. He didn't help me a bit. If it was up to him, Cesar Millan would be up here with that damn dog. So all I can say is suck it Jesus, this reward is my God now." (credit:Getty Images)
Hugh Hefner(13 of62)
In 2012, Hefner penned an editorial that said "when religion rather than reason dictates legislation, do not expect logic with your law," and: "This is a religious nation, but it is also a secular one. For decades the American people have found a way to balance religious beliefs with secular freedoms. We have enjoyed freedom of religion as well as freedom from religion. These need not be incompatible. No one should have to subjugate their religious freedom, and no one should have their personal freedoms infringed. This is America and we must protect the rights of all Americans."Earlier this year, the prestigious Hugh Hefner award for those who protect the First Amendment went to a 16-year-old atheist who fought to have a prayer banner at her high school removed. (credit:Getty Images)
Next: Atheist Billboards(14 of62)
(15 of62)
In this Sept. 9, 2010 photo, a billboard erected by atheists in Oklahoma City reads " Don't believe in God? Join the club". Nick Singer, the coordinator of a local atheists' group called "Coalition of Reason," recently received $5,250 from its national counterpart to erect the billboard along Interstate 44 near the Oklahoma State Fair. Oklahoma ranks eighth in the nation for percentage of residents who self-identify as Christians (85 percent), according to an analysis of the 2008 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey conducted by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion and Public Life. (Sue Ogrocki, AP) (credit:Sue Ogrocki, AP)
(16 of62)
Atheist billboard on Capital Blvd. in Raleigh, North Carolina, can be seen March 29, 2011. (Chris Seward, Raleigh News & Observer / MCT) (credit:Chris Seward, Raleigh News & Observer / MCT)
(17 of62)
A billboard sponsored by an atheist group is displayed near the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel in North Bergen, N.J., Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2010. Now, the Catholic League has countered by putting up its own billboard near one of the tunnel's New York City entrances. (Seth Wenig, AP) (credit:Seth Wenig, AP)
(18 of62)
An atheistic billboard in Chicago. (Eric Ingrum, Flickr) (credit:Eric Ingrum, Flickr)
(19 of62)
(credit:Flickr:eioua)
(20 of62)
A billboard sponsored by a Catholic group is displayed near an exit of the Lincoln Tunnel in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2010. Similarly, a billboard sponsored by an atheist group is displayed near the tunnel's New Jersey entrance. (Seth Wenig, AP) (credit:Seth Wenig, AP)
(21 of62)
From RNS' Diana Fishlock: A billboard erected in one of the Harrisburg, Pa.'s most racially diverse neighborhoods featured an African slave with the biblical quote, "Slaves, obey your masters." It lasted less than a day before someone tore it down. (credit:Religion News Service)
(22 of62)
An atheist group was blocked from erecting a billboard in a heavily Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. (credit:American Atheists)
Next: Most And Least Religious Countries(23 of62)
Ghana- 96% religious(24 of62)
Ghanaian cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson attends a mass at the St Peter's basilica on March 12, 2013 at the Vatican. Cardinals moved into the Vatican today as the suspense mounted ahead of a secret papal election with no clear frontrunner to steer the Catholic world through troubled waters after Benedict XVI's historic resignation.The 115 cardinal electors who pick the next leader of 1.2 billion Catholics in a conclave in the Sistine Chapel will live inside the Vatican walls completely cut off from the outside world until they have made their choice. (credit:GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images)
Nigeria- 93% religious(25 of62)
In this photo taken on Thursday, July 18, 2013, Hauwa Jubril, a muslim girl sit outside a shop in Obalende, Lagos, Nigeria. Nigerias secular and Islamic laws clashed when a senator notorious for marrying a 14-year-old filibustered a vote to amend the constitution by insisting that a girl child comes of age when she marries, not at 18. Enraged activists are demanding the senate revisit the vote, asking how a known pedophile could get away with subverting the countrys constitution. (credit:AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
Armenia- 92% religious(26 of62)
This photo taken on January 5, 2013 shows a man lighting a candle during a Christmas Eve service at the Khor Virab church outside Yerevan. Millions of Armenians will celebrate Christmas on January 6. (credit:KAREN MINASYAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Fiji- 92% religious(27 of62)
Pilgrims from Fiji attend the morning Mass of Pope Benedict XVI at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney on July 20, 2008. Far fewer people than the predicted crowd of 500,000 turned out for a final World Youth Day mass led by Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday, leaving one venue almost empty of worshippers, AFP photographers said. (credit:KRYSTLE WRIGHT/AFP/Getty Images)
Macedonia- 90% religious(28 of62)
The president of Macedonia'parliament Trajko Veljanoski kisses the hand of Pope Francis during a private audience on May 24, 2013 at the Vatican. (credit:GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images)
Romania- 89% religious(29 of62)
Visitors light up candles inside a room 'The space for Recollection and Prayer' to commemorate victims of the communist repression in Romania, in Sighetu Marmatiei on July 13, 2013. Former dissidents and political prisoners gathered in Romania on July 14, 2013 at a museum commemorating those who suffered abuses under communism, set up 20 years ago at the site of a prison where scores died. (credit: DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP/Getty Images)
Iraq- 88% religious(30 of62)
Shiite Muslim worshippers light candles outside Imam Mohammed al-Mahdi shrine during the annual festival of Shabaniyah, which marks the anniversary of the birth of the ninth-century Shiite leader known as the Hidden Imam, in Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, June 24, 2013. (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban) (credit:AP)
Kenya- 88% religious(31 of62)
Njemps tribemen dance in front of a statue of Buddha at the Gallmann nature conservancy near Kinamba, Laikipia, Northern Kenya on March 4, 2012. High Priest Shinso Ito and a group of Shinnyo-en priests arrived in Kenya to perform a Buddhist fire and water ceremony for the first time ever in Africa.The ceremony was attended by over 300 spiritual leaders and was streamed live on the internet to millions of viewers and devotees globally. The ceremony involved Kenyan tribal elders and members of the Njemps, Pokot Samburu, Kikuyu and Turkana communites. AFP PHOTO/Carl de Souza (Photo credit should read CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Peru- 86% religious(32 of62)
A faithful holds an image of the 'The Lord of Miracles', worshipped by the majority of the Catholic Peruvians, during his main procession on October 18, 2012 in Lima. (credit:GERALDO CASO/AFP/Getty Images)
Brazil- 85% religious(33 of62)
Catholics touch an icon of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ as it is taken along with the World Youth Day (WYD) Cross that in 1984 Pope John Paul II entrusted the youth of the world, across Rocinha shantytown in Rio de Janeiro on July 18, 2013. The Pope is due in Rio for the July 22-28 Catholic WYD, an event expected to attract two million people from around the globe. (credit:Photo credit should read YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images)
Ireland- 10% atheist(34 of62)
Roman Catholics listen to Bishop Noel Treanor during mass at St Peter's Roman Catholic Cathedral in West Belfast, Northern Ireland, Sunday, March, 21, 2010. Pope Benedict XVI has apologised to victims of child sex abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland. Extracts from the Popes letter were read at all masses across Ireland Sunday, in the pastoral letter to Irish Catholics, he acknowledged the sense of betrayal in the Church felt by victims and their families. (credit:(AP Photo/Peter Morrison))
Australia- 10% atheist(35 of62)
A Falun Gong Practitioner poses on the 14th anniversary of the beginning of the persecution of Falun Gong in China on July 21, 2013 in Sydney, Australia. In July of 1999, the communist Chinese government outlawed the spiritual practise of Falun Gong, declaring it illegal and forbidding citizens to practise. Followers believe thousands of practitioners have been killed, imprisoned or put in labour camps in China since 1999. (credit:(Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images))
Iceland- 10% atheist(36 of62)
Pope Benedict XVI (R) poses with Iceland president Olafur Ragnar Grinsson during a private audience at the Vatican on March 4, 2011. (credit:ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images)
Austria- 10% atheist(37 of62)
The Russian Orthodox cathedral of St. Nicholas is seen on a clear day in Vienna on April 1, 2013. (credit:ALEXANDER KLEIN/AFP/Getty Images)
Netherlands- 14% atheist(38 of62)
Dozens of people queue in front of the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam on May 1, 2013. A day after the crowning of king Willem-Alexander the church has opened it's doors for those who want to see the church in the same setting as during the ceremony on April 30. (credit:JERRY LAMPEN/AFP/Getty Images)
Germany- 15% atheist(39 of62)
Eight new priests prepare for their ordination at the Freisinger Dom cathedral on June 29, 2013 in Freising, Germany. Freising Cathedral, also called Saint Mary and Corbinian Cathedral, is a romanesque basilica in Freising, Bavaria. The Freising Cathedral is also known for being the place where Pope Benedict XVI was ordained a priest. Bavaria, Germany's southern-most state, is heavily Catholic. (credit: (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images))
South Korea- 15% atheist(40 of62)
Nuns walk on a popular shopping street in Seoul on July 6, 2013. Freedom of religion is constitutionally guaranteed in South Korea, which is predominantly Buddhist and Christian. (credit:Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)
France- 29% atheist(41 of62)
A picture taken on July 12, 2013 shows a nun walking by the Sacre-Coeur basilica in the Montmartre neighborhood of Paris. (credit:PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images)
Czech Republic- 30% atheist(42 of62)
Tourists enjoy a sunny day on March 25, 2010 at the traditional Eastern market in the Old Town Square in Prague. (credit:MICHAL CIZEK/AFP/Getty Images)
Japan- 31% atheist(43 of62)
Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan (R) and Galician regional president Alberto Nunez Feijoo (L) attend a concert at Cathedral on June 15, 2013 in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. (credit:Photo by Concha Paz-Pool/Getty Images)
China- 47% atheist(44 of62)
This photo taken on on June 27, 2013 shows a muslim Uighur walking through dusty streets in Turpan, Xinjiang Province. China's constitution proclaims the country's dozens of minority groups as integral and equal parts of the national tapestry -- but analysts say the mishandling of such distinctions is a driver of unrest in remote Xinjiang. Beijing's propaganda portrays the vast western region more than four times the size of Japan as a harmonious land of colourful, mostly Muslim Uighur natives and hard-working migrants prospering under Communist Party rule. (credit:MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)
Next: Top Scientists -- Who Believes, Who Doesn't?(45 of62)
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) (46 of62)
"The impossibility of conceiving that this grand and wondrous universe, with our conscious selves, arose through chance, seems to me the chief argument for the existence of God."Clarification: The full quote, from one of Darwin's letters, carries a different sentiment.A young admirer asked Darwin about his religious views (the original inquiry is lost), and the great naturalist answered: "It is impossible to answer your question briefly; and I am not sure that I could do so, even if I wrote at some length. But I may say that the impossibility of conceiving that this grand and wondrous universe, with our conscious selves, arose through chance, seems to me the chief argument for the existence of God; but whether this is an argument of real value, I have never been able to decide."
Neil deGrasse Tyson (1958- (47 of62)
"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?" --American astrophysicist and science commentator
Stephen Hawking (1942-) (48 of62)
"What I have done is to show that it is possible for the way the universe began to be determined by the laws of science. In that case, it would not be necessary to appeal to God to decide how the universe began. This doesn't prove that there is no God, only that God is not necessary."--English physicist and cosmologist
Carl Sagan (1934-1996) (49 of62)
"Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light-years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual...The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both." --American astrophysicist
Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) (50 of62)
"Emotionally, I am an atheist. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time" --American biochemist and science fiction writer
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) (51 of62)
Clarification: While the New York Times noted that "Einstein consistently characterized the idea of a personal God who answers prayers as naive, and life after death as wishful thinking," he also "described himself as an 'agnostic' and 'not an atheist.'" One ambiguous quote, from Einstein's response to a letter from a sixth-grade student named Phyllis Wright, reads "Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe - a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble. In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort, which is indeed quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive."--German physicist, created theory of general relativity.
Max Planck (1858-1947) (52 of62)
"It was not by accident that the greatest thinkers of all ages were deeply religious souls."--German physicist, noted for work on quantum theory
Erwin Schroedinger (1887-1961) (53 of62)
"I am very astonished that the scientific picture of the real world around me is very deficient. It gives a lot of factual information, puts all our experiences in a magnificently consistent order, but is ghastly silent about all and sundry that is really near to our heart, that really matters to us. It cannot tell us a word about red and blue, bitter and sweet, physical pain and physical delight; it knows nothing of beautiful and ugly, good or bad, god and eternity."--Austrian physicist, awarded Nobel prize in 1933
Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958) (54 of62)
"In my view, all that is necessary for faith is the belief that by doing our best we shall come nearer to success and that success in our aims (the improvement of the lot of mankind, present and future) is worth attaining...I maintain that faith in this world is perfectly possible without faith in another world." --British biophysicist renowned for her work on X-ray diffraction. (credit:WikiCommons)
William H. Bragg (1862-1942) (55 of62)
"From religion comes a man's purpose; from science, his power to achieve it. Sometimes people ask if religion and science are not opposed to one another. They are: in the sense that the thumb and fingers of my hands are opposed to one another. It is an opposition by means of which anything can be grasped."--British physicist, chemist, and mathematician. Awarded Nobel Prize in 1915
Richard Feynman (1918-1988) (56 of62)
"God was invented to explain mystery. God is always invented to explain those things that you do not understand."--American physicist, awarded Nobel Prize in 1965
Wernher Von Braun (1912-1977) (57 of62)
"I find it as difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe as it is to comprehend a theologian who would deny the advances of science." --German-American rocket scientist
Richard Dawkins (1941-) (58 of62)
"The more you understand the significance of evolution, the more you are pushed away from the agnostic position and towards atheism. Complex, statistically improbable things are by their nature more difficult to explain than simple, statistically probable things." --British evolutionary biologist (credit:Wikimedia Commons: David Shankbone )
Nevill Mott (1905-1996) (59 of62)
"Science can have a purifying effect on religion, freeing it from beliefs of a pre-scientific age and helping us to a truer conception of God. At the same time, I am far from believing that science will ever give us the answers to all our questions."--English physicist, awarded Nobel Prize in 1977 (credit:Photo Credit: University Of Bristol )
Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) (60 of62)
"Science can destroy religion by ignoring it as well as by disproving its tenets. No one ever demonstrated, so far as I am aware, the nonexistence of Zeus or Thor - but they have few followers now" --British science fiction author and inventor
Walter Kohn (1923-) (61 of62)
"I am very much a scientist, and so I naturally have thought about religion also through the eyes of a scientist. When I do that, I see religion not denominationally, but in a more, let us say, deistic sense. I have been influence in my thinking by the writing of Einstein who has made remarks to the effect that when he contemplated the world he sensed an underlying Force much greater than any human force. I feel very much the same. There is a sense of awe, a sense of reverence, and a sense of great mystery."--American theoretical physicist, awarded Nobel Prize in 1998
Sam Harris (1967-) (62 of62)
"Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it is simply a refusal to deny the obvious."--American neuroscientist (credit:Wikimedia Commons: Laurence Boyce )