Francis Campbell said that politicians are usually aware of the importance of faith because of their “lived experience” in constituencies.
But he claimed that government officials are less knowledgeable, and suggested they try to find out more from devout colleagues.
Mr Campbell, Britain’s first Roman Catholic ambassador to the Holy See, said that the Western belief that religion was in decline had been proved wrong and that faith should be an important consideration in foreign policy.
A good first step might be for civil servants (and journalists) to drop the word devout. How about trying synonyms: believers, committed Christians, faithful, practising, observant … ?
I don’t know of anyone, except a tiny number of Wellsian utopians, who have claimed that religious belief in general around the globe is in decline or will be soon. I mean, 9/11? Hello? Intense religious warfare between Israel and its neighbors? Nobody, including Chris Hitchens, thinks that religion is in decline.
What has been asserted is that Christianity is in decline in Western Europe. And if the ambassador is trying to deny that he’s being ridiculous.