We’re a Christian country, right? So we should have Christian laws. Where will we begin? We would obviously have to repeal civil partnerships and re-criminalise homosexuality. Any kind of research into genetics would need to be curtailed. And as for the creeping onset of euthanasia, that would surely be stopped in its tracks with the re-introduction of the death penalty. Look – it’s easy when you get going. Why not think up your own contributions and let me know?

After all, 70% of the UK population is Christian. And thereby lies the problem. This statistic – so well used in certain circles – has very little basis in fact and since I’ve posted on this issue before I won’t go into all the arguments again. Even if it were correct, there is such a variety between believers we shouldn’t expect them to all vote in the same way.

But at least we can be sure that evangelicals all agree on these major issues and can be trusted to be a powerful block of opinion on social policy. Except that even here the diversity is pretty stark. For example, only 42% strongly agree that ‘assisted suicide is always wrong’, though with 18% agreeing ‘a little’ with this view it does mean that 60% are broadly in agreement with what is traditional Christian teaching. But that still leaves 40% who are either uncertain or are definitely not in agreement. That’s a big chunk from within a body that is supposedly conservative in its views. Then we have the 27% of who don’t quite agree with the ‘homosexual acts are always wrong’ line and the whopping 45% who believe that abortion can be right in certain circumstances.

In view of the above the 70% stat has little value, in my opinion, and we shouldn’t use it to demand changes in the law. But then I’m a post-Christendom junkie. Maybe you think differently?