What are the worst blights facing our society today? A version of that question was asked 104 years ago by Joseph Rowntree, one of Britain's most famous Quakers. Rowntree thought the "scourges of humanity" facing his world were poverty, war, slavery, intemperance, the opium trade, impurity and gambling. A new poll commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation asks a similar question of the UK population today, and the results could have Mr Rowntree turning in his grave. The "dominant opinion", according to researchers, is that religion is a "social evil" which leads to intolerance and ignorance.

Terry Sanderson of the National Secular Society is claiming a victory of sorts; the public, he says, have had it with religion. I suspect that religion will continue to flourish long after the National Secular Society has ceased to exist. But the question people of faith need to ask is why the public today are so distrustful of religious believers. One answer to that question is the public's perception of religious people as Victorian nay-sayers who oppose scientific progress and bemoan the diversity we now see in so much of our society. One respondent in the study said: "Faith in supernatural phenomena inspires hatred and prejudice throughout the world, and is commonly used as justification for persecution of women, gays and people who do not have faith."

