Giles Fraser is correct that babies are born with religious and other forms of identity (Many of our beliefs are not chosen, we are born into them, 2 December). As we move from an age of ideology to an age of identity, more people around the world describe themselves as religious. Even in the UK, a relatively secular country, 68% of people attached themselves to a particular faith in the last census.
This upsurge of identity need not be divisive but could and should be enlarging. Faith identity may be particular, but it should also give rise to universal values and morals, whether in personal behaviour or a concern for the poor and underprivileged. People of different faith identities should be able to come together to build better neighbourhoods and stronger communities. Gandhi put it well: “Religions are different roads converging to the same point. What does it matter that we take different roads, so long as we reach the same goal.”
Zaki Cooper
Trustee, Council of Christians and Jews
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