MADAM, I am writing as a member of the British Humanist Association. I would like to encourage all Ross Gazette readers to think carefully about the question of religion in the forthcoming 2011 census. The results of the question are used by government, local authorities and service providers to decide how to run services and create policies. Many people in the last census ticked the Christian box yet do not hold Christian beliefs, go to church or identify as Christian in any meaningful way. Ticking the Christian box, rather than No Religion has the effect of vastly over-estimating religious beliefs and this has influenced central and government policy.
If the 2011 census creates a similar result, it may lead to further discrimination against non-religious people.
Pamela Berg, Ross