David Maddox: Don't mention the "G" word

Why is it that in Britain we shudder when a politician wears his or her religious faith on his or her sleeve?
It was interesting to see the coverage of Tony Blair this morning giving the sermon at President Obama's National Prayer Breakfast and some of the comments he had to make.
In particular there was the disdain shown by civil servants when he wanted to end a speech as Prime Minister: "God bless the British people." Similar to the closing line of almost any presidential address in the USA.
"The system was aghast," he recollected "As I sat trying to defend my words a senior civil servant said with utter disdain, 'Really prime minister, this is not America you know.'"
It is not as if the distaste for religion is not well known among many people employed by the state. You only have to look at the annual round of town hall bashing at Christmas because Nativity displays or school re-enactments of the birth of Jesus have been banned by the local council.
It was noticeable too that Mr Blair was extremely reluctant to talk about his faith while he was still PM, and delayed his formal conversion to Catholicism until after leaving office, even though he attended Catholic mass most Sundays. Then there was the famous spat with Newsnight's Jeremy Paxman when he asked, in his usual sneering fashion, if he had prayed with George W. Bush.
But the British reluctance to have religion on display is also true in continental Europe where overtly religious politicians also are distrusted. Even in Italy, the home of Catholicism, many state schools too will not have re-enactments of the Nativity for fear of offending some minority religious group.
However, the antipathy towards religious expression is strange in Britain considering that 44 million lay claim to believing in God, about two thirds of the population. In Scotland it is 3.3 million, 67 per cent.
In Scotland the reluctance to talk about religion seems to be less than in other parts of the UK. There is a small fringe party, the Greens, that has become a focus of anti-religious sentiment and hardline secularism, while the others are happy to engage with religious leaders on issues such as nuclear disarmament and even ethical issues like abortion. Alex Salmond has noticeably cosied up to the outspoken Catholic church leaders and there are MSPs happy to put their church affiliation on their profiles. But you will be lucky to find one who talks about how their faith shapes their lives and their politics.
The problem is that when a person makes a lot of their religious belief then it is assumed that he or she is an extremist of some fashion which is why politicians, with rare exceptions like Anne Widdicombe, avoid talking about it.
Which brings us back to Tony Blair and the Prayer Breakfast. In his speech where he mentioned the word God 31 times, he alluded to the "unholy alliance" of aggressive secularists and religious extremists. His message was that the danger is that if moderates are not willing to talk about or even be identified with their faith, then the extremists will become the image of all believers and the anti-religious lobby will have all the justification they need.