Be more vocal, faith groups told

A government minister has urged faith groups to become more vocal on social media in order to make the case for religion in public life, writes Christopher Lamb.

Baroness Warsi, the Minister of State for Faith and Communities, said that when observing Twitter it was possible to think that the majority of people were secular or anti-faith.

“One of the things I get called on Twitter is ‘minister for fairies, goblins and imaginary friends,’ ” she said in a question-and-answer session after delivering the second Pope Benedict XVI lecture at the University of Notre Dame in central London on Monday. “There is a little bit of hostility to faith in the public sphere.”

She went on: “You guys who actually believe in the power of faith being the driver for good also need to be more vocal, things like social networking … Facebook and Twitter, faith communities are not particularly vocal.

“When you watch those kind of media, you would actually think 90 per cent of the population is secular, or 90 per cent of the population is anti-faith. It’s not. People of faith, if they feel strongly enough about it, have to be prepared, like politicians, to put their head above the
parapet.” 

Lady Warsi admitted it was “not fashionable to do God” but said that her colleagues in Government were now more conscious of the importance of faith in public life.
 
She cited the Prime Minister’s annual Easter reception in Downing Street and that religious faith was now a matter that cut across all government departments whereas beforehand it had just been a matter for the Department for Communities and Local Government.

In her lecture, she called for action on religious persecution and called for Christians to speak up for Muslims who were under attack and vice versa.