So there we are. The jingoism of the bulldog in Brussels last week gives way to religious supremacy and moral hectoring in Oxford this. Our prime minister - even by his own high standards - is on a roll of outlandish arrogance and spectacular hypocrisy.
His speech to Church of England clergy on Friday was so replete with contradiction, double standards and ugliness it is difficult to know where to kick off. His assertion that "we are a Christian country and we should not be afraid to say so" will do.
In the past we were a Christian country, in the present we are not. Take away the symbolism; the fact the unelected head of state is the 'Supreme Governor' of the Church of England, the unelected prime minster is a Church Commissioner and only unelected Christian Bishops are permitted to sit in our upper legislature and his statement unravels fast.
In terms of the letter of Christianity, The Church of England has the 4th lowest attendance rate in Europe with an even worse prognosis.
Two of the four core groups that the church singularly fails to attract are the young and the poor, the former (by definition) are the future, as (by extension) are the latter as their number is growing, largely thanks to Mr Cameron's policies . Not only are church numbers declining year on year, but the Christian church as a civically relevant institution is also on the run; holding fewer and fewer baptisms, funerals and marriages .
In terms of the spirit of Christianity, we are a greedier, lazier, and more selfish populace than we have ever been and more prone to adultery, gambling and a myriad of other capital vices. If you look at the social topography, the European Social Survey found that only 12% of British people feel they "belong" to a church.
Interestingly, the same survey found 52% of people in France consider they do 'belong' to the church, contradicting another Cameron assertion that it is "easier for people to believe and practise other faiths when Britain has confidence in its Christian identity [...] it is much easier to be Jewish or Muslim here in Britain than it is in a secular country like France".
To many, the clearest and foulest undertone to Cameron's speech was the implication that his (apparently our) religious identity is somehow superior in stature to any other faith or perish the thought, agnosticism or atheism. I understand how profoundly offensive this is but not, to my mind, as offensive as the suggestion that Cameron and his church has some kind of moral elevation over the rest of us.
A central tenet (very laudably) held dear by a great many practicing Christians is one that states greed must be resisted, and is an evil or sin. Christ of course rallied against the rich and defended the poor, and therein lays the greatest hypocrisy.
At the exact time when, according to the Institute of Fiscal Studies "the overall effect of the Treasury's new plans will be to reduce the incomes of those in the bottom 30% of earners and to benefit those in the top 60%. The Chancellor's decision will also push more children into poverty"; at a time when the rich are getting richer, the poor poorer and many more are being made homeless, our Prime Minster, personally worth tens of millions, decided to shore up his own future a bit recently by purchasing (from the Lord next door) 140k of additional land adjacent to his (technically fourth) home from, and walked away from Europe because it dared to regulate Mammon itself, the City of London.
Incidentally, the one area where Cameron was perfectly right is when he reminded us the Church provides "a set of values and morals which make Britain what it is today." The extraordinary wealth of the FTSE 100 and greed of RBS and MP's has come to symbolise Britain in 2011; a culture the Christian Church is well placed to understand.
As I pointed out in a piece earlier this year:
"according to the church's website, their financial strategy at present involves "a mix of styles and approaches" having "scaled down holdings in UK company shares and invested more in global company shares and private equity."
"In acknowledgement of the UK's newest and principle religion (shopping) its extensive property portfolio includes retail parks, great chunks of high street and the MetroCentre mall; pre-Westfield the biggest shopping centre in Europe. It also operates highest end retail units in London's Savile Row, and for a mere £85, one can lunch on a steak and a glass of red at the Royal Lancaster, the luxury hotel it owns on London's Hyde Park."
So as an atheist with a serious respect for those who practice their faith (as opposed to those very 'vaguely practising' like Cameron) and a love for living in a largely tolerant, religiously pluralistic though broadly secular country, I'd remind the PM of the words of Matthew 6:24: "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
The reason Blair didn't 'do God' is because he knew which master he'd elected to serve, the same one, quite patently, as Cameron. By all means live a life - both in and out of office - serving the interests of the likes of Goldman Sachs, but for all of our sakes, drop the G word.