The BBC\u2019s head of religion has warned that Britain needs to address its \u201cchronic lack of religious literacy\u201d\u009d if it is to accommodate the rise through new immigration of \u201cmore assertive\u201d\u009d forms of Christianity with \u201cconflicting views\u201d\u009d on same-sex marriage and other human rights issues.<\/p>\n
Aaqil Ahmed, writing for The Independent, identifies a \u201cmore muscular Pentecostalism\u201d\u009d emerging among African immigrants and an \u201cupsurge in Catholic numbers\u201d\u009d from Poland and elsewhere in Eastern Europe. \u201cChristianity may have been pronounced to be at death\u2019s door in the last century but now it\u2019s firmly back in the public space and how we deal with that is the real battle for Christianity here in the UK.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Mr Ahmed, the BBC\u2019s head of religion and ethics, talks of a \u201cchanging of the guard\u201d\u009d in the Church and says: \u201cChristianity is not in terminal decline as many would have us believe, it is just different now and it\u2019s growing.\u201d\u009d He asks: \u201cIf among this growth is a more assertive Christianity with conflicting views with society on homosexuality, for example, then how do we deal with this?\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n