Andrew Copson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association, then shared the platform with Elaine Storkey, chair of the Church and Media Network. Andrew argued that religion wasn’t being squeezed out of the public square. That was a false narrative stoked up by groups like Christian Concern For Our Nation. He said that when he was in the House of Lords he saw close up how bishops in the Church of England have an importance that is disproportionate to Christian presence in this country, and that this lack of proportionality is often represented in the media. Elaine countered that the public sphere was the realm of economics, politics, law, science, arts, technology and that religion, along with sex, has inhabited the private sphere for as far back as she could recall. There are humanists who want religion out of the public sphere altogether and all this does is privilege secularism. Economics is imbued with moral and spiritual issues that need to be recognised.

A discussion on the definition of secularism then followed. For Elaine, secular meant non-religious. For Andrew, it was a neutral state in an open and diverse society, but he was prepared to give up the word and use plurality instead. The search for meaning was another hot topic. Andrew said meaning was something we invent either through social interaction or discovery of the universe or the arts or having children. Elaine said the “who am I” search was, for many people, a spiritual search.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jun/14/church-media-conference