The Government is also setting up religious committees in the poorest areas to draw on their expertise in practical ways to tackle deprivation. Later, on July 9, the two leaders again appealed to Christian voters, this time at a conference of black Evangelicals. Blair told an audience of black evangelical Christians at their Faith in the Future conference in Brighton that faith was what gave people strength in difficulty. It gives us strength, he said. Faith is not an old-fashioned virtue whose time has gone.
Faith is the answer.
Blair, although not a Catholic, is a believing Christian who regularly attends Mass with his Catholic wife and children. Hague said he wanted to appeal to the millions of Britons who still aspire to marriage, who still revere honesty, faithfulness, and charity. These values are Christian values, he said. Hague s promises to change anti-marriage tax laws and to fight repeal of Section 28 the law which bans promotion of homosexuality in schools were warmly welcomed. A newspaper catering to homosexuals has accused the late Cardinal Basil Hume of Westminster of homophobia and criticized his work with London s leading charity for the homeless.