London | December 16

AFP - Britain is a Christian nation and should not be afraid of standing up for Christian values to help counter the country’s “moral collapse”, Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday.

In a rare foray into religion by a British premier, Cameron said “live and let live” had too often become “do what you please” in Britain.

The “passive tolerance” of immoral behaviour had helped fuel the August riots, excess in the banking industry and home-grown Islamist terror, he said.

“We are a Christian country. And we should not be afraid to say so,” Cameron said at an event in Oxford, southern England, to mark the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible.

“The Bible has helped to give Britain a set of values and morals which make Britain what it is today. Values and morals we should actively stand up and defend.

The Independent, By Oliver Wright, December 17

Alastair Campbell famously told Tony Blair that "we don't do God" despite the former Prime Minister's strongly held religious beliefs.

Yesterday David Cameron attempted to explain his own relationship with the Almighty but could not resist a swipe at his representative in England, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Describing himself as a "vaguely practising" Christian, Mr Cameron admitted to "grappling" with big theological questions. He insisted that religion had to have a place in politics as "so many political questions are moral questions".

But in a remark aimed at Dr Rowan Williams, who criticised the Government's policies earlier this year, he said the church "must keep on the agenda that speaks to the whole country".

[...]

Speaking in front of an audience that included the Bishop of Oxford, Mr Cameron admitted he was not a regular churchgoer but still believed the Christianity and structure of the Church of England was fundamental to British society.

"I claim no religious authority whatsoever," he said. "I am a committed, but I have to say vaguely practising, Church of England Christian, who will stand up for the values and principles of my faith but who is full of doubts. Like many (I am) constantly grappling with the difficult questions when it comes to some of the big theological issues."

Full of doubts, but we should assert the Primacy of Religion over Morality?