Letter: Census of faith
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir: No one should have to disclose their faith (or lack of it) mandatorily, least of all to the head of their household or the state (leading article, 5 March).
Neither will the statistics gathered in the 2001 census be accurate: those of believers will be substantially exaggerated. As they do on hospital next-of-kin forms, people will tend to register their "faith" at birth - C of E or whatever - even if they have not been to a religious service for years and have no interest in religion. The inflated figures are likely to be used to secure further unwarranted religious privileges.
Neither will the various kinds of partial or non-believers be accurately counted. Such terms as "agnostic" are too subtle to be registered accurately in census tick-boxes by the head of the household on its behalf.
These questions must be removed from the census.
K PORTEOUS WOOD
General Secretary
National Secular Society
London WC1
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments