This Saturday (17th September) an unspecified number of people will gather in central London to “oppose special privileges for religion and people of faith”. This ‘March for a Secular Europe’ is supported by the British Humanist Society, The National Secular Society and Peter Tatchell. The website takes an almost Dan Brown-esque line in its scaremongering about shadowy papal interference.

The sociologist Frank Furedi, which the BHA itself calls a “distinguished supporter of humanism” has criticised the March, claiming that it gives humanism a bad name. He believes that the claim that Europe faces a threat from religious leaders who are ‘often imposing their harsh intolerant morality on everyone else’ is based on a fantasy. He cautions against an ‘inquisition in reverse’ and argues that “secular prejudice is no more acceptable than its theocratic cousin”.

We live in an increasingly plural society, and we’re struggling to come to terms with our ‘deep diversity’. Clearly the reality of diversity at the very deepest levels, in our values and the way we understand the world, feels threatening to many.  The Campaign for a Secular Europe, who are running the march, claim that they want a Europe which is “democratic, peaceful, open and just…”, surely an aim most could agree on, but finish the sentence with “…immune to the clandestine influence of privileged religious organizations”.

The intolerant underpinnings of this movement are further sh