Writing in a Guardian/Barrow Cadbury book published next month, Sunder Katwala, the society's general secretary, argues that a fresh settlement is needed between religion and the state because saying the country is largely a secular society and must remain so is no longer tenable. Religion cannot be left out of the public debate.

Article continues In the book, entitled Islam, Race and Being British, he says the new settlement needs to be based on the equal treatment of all religions. The reasons for retaining the established status of the Church of England - that Britain has an essentially Christian heritage and that 72% of the population put themselves down as CofE in the 2001 census - are no longer convincing.

Mr Katwala argues it would be better to establish a framework of equality between all religions rather than extend the current privileges, including the blasphemy law, to all faiths. This could be expressed in a variety of ways. For example:

· A coronation ceremony which symbolises Britain as a multi-faith society

· Parliament, the courts and the army to offer a range of oaths, including secular versions

· The bans on the monarch being anything but Protestant and the heir to the throne marrying a Catholic to go

· Muslim schools to be funded by the state but issues of integration for all faith schools to be met through the curriculum and admissions policy.

He says if Labour's proposed reform of the Lords retains a fully or partly appointed upper house there would be a choice between removing the Church of England's bishops or adding senior representatives of other faiths to sit and legislate.

"It would be preferable for no religious leaders to sit by right, but for an appointments commission to ensure that different faith and community perspectives are represented," he writes.

This does not have to be done through the appointment of religious leaders but by taking religion into consideration as one factor when appointing peers.

The call comes as secular campaigners say the question on religion in the 2001 census was so imprecise it "grossly exaggerated" the extent of religious belief in England and Wales.

As the consultation period of questions for the 2011 census ended this week, the National Secular Society said the previous question, What is your religion?, exaggerated the extent of religious involvement as it failed to distinguish between the faith people belonged to from that in which they were brought up in.

"In Scotland both questions were asked - what religion were you brought up in and what is it now?" said Keith Porteous Wood of the NSS. "For those of no religion the proportional difference was over a half: 28% said no religion now while only 18% said they had been brought up with no religion. For the religious the current figure was about a 10th lower for religious affiliation now [67%] than the 'upbringing' figure of 74%."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,1552005,00.html

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