From the editor’s desk

Religion is back

Alastair Campbell, the Prime Minister's former press secretary, once famously said: "We don't do God," expressing a common view that religion and politics do not mix. Certainly today, Britain often seems a markedly secular country. Strident voices can regularly be heard denouncing religion.

But according to research published this week by the newly established religious think tank, Theos, the British are not as hostile to religion as the media might think. Rather, most people believe that religion is a force for good and should play an important part in national life. In a joint foreword to the Theos report, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor say that those who want religion removed from national life are themselves guilty of an intolerant position. "Religiously inspired public engagement need not be sectarian and in fact can be radically inclusive," they write. The report itself argues that religion will play an increasingly crucial role in society, because of growing interest in religion's part in promoting happiness and well-being. As if right on cue, the same day that the report was published religious leaders of many faiths gathered to back the launch of a new system of raising money for health care in the developing world. Chancellor Gordon Brown's International Finance Facility (IFF) will raise £2.1 billion for an immunisation programme to protect 500 million children from the poorest countries against polio, diphtheria and other devastating diseases. Religious leaders came on board after the Pope, who was represented by Cardinal Martino at the launch, agreed to buy the first IFF "aid bond".

It is the first time that the Vatican had made a gesture of this type, but Mr Brown's courting of the Holy See started in 2004, when he spoke at a conference in Rome urging other European countries to back the IFF. His visit there, and the launch this week, shows that Mr Brown, one of the most intelligent of British politicians and the son of a Presbyterian minister, recognises the moral authority that religion still has, and faith's role in the betterment of society, not to mention the continuing clout of the Vatican in world affairs.

But Mr Brown is more than an idealist. He is an astute politician who sees almost within his grasp the prize for which he has yearned for so long - the keys to Number 10. Its current incumbent, Tony Blair, has this week been on the back foot over Saddam Hussein and the loans-for-honours inquiry. Mr Brown, meanwhile, wrote in The Times calling for a new global alliance on free trade, backed by senior businessmen; was interviewed over three pages in the same paper about his children and parents; wrote in The Independent a joint article with Bill Gates about the IFF and appeared at the launch of the immunisation bond with the Pope's representative, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Chief Rabbi. As was seen with earlier campaigns on developing world debt, it can be beneficial to society when politics and religion converge.

It can also be a highly dangerous mix, if it means that religious leaders interfere in the political process, as happened in last year's US presidential elections. It is unfortunate if, unwittingly as they try to do good, religious leaders end up with walk-on parts in a political leadership campaign, especially at a time when, as the Theos report points out, the majority of the public has a positive view of faith.