RELIGIOUS belief is usually a no-go area for British prime ministers. As Tony Blair鈥檚 media advisor Alastair Campbell once put it: 鈥渨e don鈥檛 do God鈥�.
The current occupant of No. 10 seems to have decided otherwise. In widely reported comments made over Easter, David Cameron said that people in the UK should be 鈥渕ore evangelical鈥� and 鈥渕ore confident about our status as a Christian country鈥�.
That provoked a chorus of dissent 鈥� some of it, rather unexpectedly, from the former Archbishop of Canterbury. Describing the UK as a 鈥溾��, Rowan Williams said that the era of widespread worship was over.
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Williams is right. It is clear that the UK鈥檚 past was dominated by Christianity 鈥� with a strong streak of paganism 鈥� but its present is non-religious. Just under ; Christians of all denominations are in a minority.
That drift away from religion is an interesting phenomenon. The UK isn鈥檛 becoming a country of committed atheists. Most of the unaffiliated neither accept nor reject religion: they simply don鈥檛 care about it. In that respect, the UK looks a lot like much of the developed world. Even the US is heading that way (see 鈥�Losing our religion: Your guide to a godless future鈥�).
鈥淢ost of the unaffiliated neither accept nor reject religion: they simply don鈥檛 care about it鈥�
So inasmuch as there ever was a contest between strident religion and militant atheism, it seems there was no winner. In practice, however, indifference to religion looks very much like atheism, and even more like secularism.
That may alarm those who fear that the decline of state-endorsed religion will lead to social decay 鈥� a fear Cameron invoked when he said secularists 鈥渇ail to grasp鈥� the role that faith can play in helping people have a moral code鈥�.
But that fear is groundless. As the prime minister said in his next breath: 鈥渇aith is neither necessary nor sufficient for morality鈥� 鈥� a position many biologists would agree with. Morality arises from the workings of our social brains. And our exploration of the world around us helps us frame moral codes that reflect the world as it is, not as we imagine it to be.
Personal faith remains a private matter. But those passionate about religion鈥檚 role in public life 鈥� whether to elevate or expunge it 鈥� should recognise they are in the minority. Increasingly, none of us 鈥渄o God鈥�.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淕od not-botherers鈥�
