Jack. I haven't said anything about The USA. I get the feeling that believing in a God is more widespread. It certainly struck me that far more pews are filled and it seems to be the case that to get high political office, you need to be photographed going to or from a service. Here, neither the deputy Prime Minister nor the leader of the opposition have any religious beliefs and the Prime Minister started going to church occasionally at the request of his pollster and PR people. Religion is not such a big thing here. You seem to think people leave church to get to the pub? I could be wrong but I don't think anybody in our village at least goes to the pub from church? The twenty or so that go to church have to be seen in context of a large village of 8,000 people, almost exclusively indigenous white, ancestor - Christian stock. It is typical regardless of ethnicity. More people complain about churches forcing laws to limit shop opening times on a Sunday than anything else. A retired Archbishop of Canterbury blames persecution for drops in attendances. It doesn't occur to him that people are more sophisticated than they were years ago.

In fact, there are more Muslims attend Friday prayers thanChristians attend church in most towns according to an article I read recently. For that matter, I was at a Sikh temple a few months ago and that was quite full. The free food may have helped... It was rather good. But about a hundred people. Sounds good till you notice it is the only temple for miles, in a big city with a catchment of a couple of million people.

I don't make any claim Keith. I just say you can have all the polls you want but churches are empty and population is rising. We don't have enough housing but we are closing churches. The polls are giving false assurances if they are telling the majority think there is a God who had a supernatural son who lived on earth and died but didn't etc. Like the tooth fairy and Santa Claus, it us good traditional fun but turns nasty when people start insisting on the truth of it. They don't tolerate rational thought, and that makes it worth dismissing it as nonsense.