Richard Dawkins, atheist and author of The God Delusion, said: “There are no Christians, as far as I know, blowing up buildings. I am not aware of any Christian suicide bombers. I am not aware of any major Christian denomination that believes the penalty for apostasy is death. I have mixed feelings about the decline of Christianity, in so far as Christianity might be a bulwark against something worse.”
Mgr Michel Dubost, évêque d’Évry: “I am pleased to see how eagerly the government, politicians, the press and public opinion revolt when a mosque or a synagogue is attacked. I join those who denounce such crimes. But this general eagerness makes the total silence about the churches quite stunning... Personally, I cannot get used to these desecrations... If we have to scream, we will scream. After all, we too are citizens.”
“The trouble with a lot of Government initiatives about faith is that they assume it is a problem, it’s an eccentricity, it’s practised by oddities, foreigners and minorities."
The Evangelical Alliance’s Head of Public Affairs Don Horrocks told Third Sector magazine that ministerial pledges of support for religious charities had so far come to nothing. In contrast to public pronouncements, Don Horrocks said that new measures such as the Equality Bill displayed prejudice towards Christian groups.