At Christmas for example, our head of state told us in her speech that the teachings of Christ had informed every thing that she had ever done as queen and head of the commonwealth and in her daily life. Not unreasonable given that she has her own religion!
And our estimable prime minister has told us, over and over again, that we are a Christian country, with Christian values. (He is perhaps unaware of IDS and the DWP.)
Now, as most of you know, I am not a religious person. I have no "faith": not in a god, not in a hereafter.
But I do respect those who believe that, for whatever reason, I am wrong.
Nor do I care what religion a person follows. As I have none, they are all at least as reasonable, or unreasonable, as each other to my mind.
So, I have friends whom I know are Christians (of various denominations), a couple of mates who are Jews, one who is Hindu, some Muslims. And, like many people I have friends whose religious leanings I know nothing about. Their faith is their business. It is almost never mentioned. It's a personal thing, as it should be.
I am then proud to support a food bank started by the minister's son, and still based in a Christian church (now run by Trussel Trust)...and every time I get my hair cut by my Muslim pal who is a barber, I give what would have been the tip, to the local mosque collection tin situated close to the till.
Of course I know more about Christianity than I do about other religions, because I went to a school which was obliged by law to provide Christian religious education, and I even ended up with a Standard Grade type qualification in RE.
And from all I learned from 12+ years of Christian assemblies (a hymn, a homily and a prayer), and what was, I suppose, Bible Study lessons, I cannot but wonder if our leaders have it quite right.
This head of state and head of government, who are committed Christians, seem to me to put their names to policies that Christ's teachings would abhor. They behave like they hadn't ever heard of the Bible, much less opened it, read it and learned from it.
I may be wrong, because my understanding is faulty, but I wonder how they can call themselves Christian and supposedly follow Christ's word at the same time as they ensure that Britain has the fourth largest military spend in the world... At the same time there are skinny little bags of bones kids, who bring tears to the eyes of decent people everywhere, and of any religion and none, eating scraps off the floor and out of bins when they can, and starving to death when they can't.
Something wrong and rotten, your majesty and prime minister.
You don't do any of this in my name.
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