Parliament
A record of religious beliefs
How members of the government behave and what policies they support is dependent upon their attitudes and beliefs. As what they decide has consequences for the rest of us, we think that their beliefs should be in the public domain.
In June 2010, just after the General Election, we wrote to all 650 MPs and asked them to complete a short questionnaire about their religious beliefs.
The response was poor, but the replies and completed questionnaires we did receive have been collated into a short report.
We need your help!…
One reason for the poor response is that MPs are not obliged to respond to requests or surveys from anyone who is not a member of their constituency, which is perfectly understandable given their workload.
We now invite to write to your own MP. If you live in a constituency where the MP has not responded to our questionnaire about their religious beliefs, please write to them on our behalf to request this information. You can find out which MPs did reply by looking at our report.
If your MP is not listed in our report (and most of them aren’t), please contact them by e-mail:
Click here to find your MP and e-mail them for free via the ‘Write To Them’ web site.
Please include text similar to the following, but preferably in your own words as the ‘Write To Them’ web site advises that they may block “copy and pasted identical messages”:
In June 2010, Atheism, a campaigning organization of which I am a member, wrote to all 650 newly elected MPS with a short questionnaire asking what their religious beliefs were.
I note from the results of the survey that no reply was received from you, although I am aware that MPs are not obliged to respond to requests from non-constituents.
Consequently, as one of your constituents, I would like to know what your religious beliefs are so I would be grateful if you could let me know whether you consider yourself to be:
- Atheist
- Agnostic
- Religious (practising – please specify which religion)
- Religious (lapsed – please specify which religion)
- Other (please specify)
I look forward to hearing from you.
A paper letter can sometimes have more gravitas than an email, if you would prefer to send a letter we provide a sample that you can download and modify for your own purposes. Please add your personal details, and those of your MP, on both pages; you should get a response on House of Commons notepaper.
Many thanks!
