People's claim to be religious is often linked simply with a desire to believe in something bigger than them rather than any active belief in a Church. It is, if you like, a political correctness factor. It's perceived as popular and fashionable to be liberal. On all social issues, younger people proved much more progressive than their older counterparts. Just one third of respondents said they supported gay marriage, now legal inthe Netherlands.
British culture is incredibly resilient in all sorts of ways.
However, the news that large numbers of Britons still feel uncomfortable with ethnic minorities or gays might bring little comfort to politicians keen to exploit issues such as race and the controversial section 28 in the run-up to a general election. Conservatives will take succour, however, from the revelations that three in five people would educate their children privately and more than three-quarters would use private medicine, if only they could afford it. ICM polled 1,200 people across the country. The full results of the survey appear in a special 64-page magazine with today's Observer.