| Religion is almost another planet in UK politics. This issue stems from a campaign by the likes of the daily mail (a right wing by UK standards news paper dedicated to the middle class woman.) With the recent murder trails of child killers, certain charities have tried to link viewing of illegal images and yearning to kill children. Other interested parties have jumped onboard to manipulate to their own ends. To start with, the Prime minister was very anti opt in filters. However a front page spread from the daily mail was enough to change his view. As he is seen as weak and uncaring, some grand gesture to "save the children" is what he's looking for. (especially as his recent idea to make political capital from the murder of a serving solder is resulting in needless community unrest) he also doesn't have the time (to schedule the debate) or the political capital to back it. As there will be the inevitable "prove that this will help" argument. We have bishops in the Lords (the upper house) however they are a tiny percentage of the total membership. The lords is a revising chamber, and ironically is much more progressive than the commons (the lower house where the PM officiates and the main political parties do most of the battling) Also the Bishops are from the church of england, who by definition are significantly more liberal than any pastor in the US. They also generally do not vote with any political party. Religion is almost never an issue in UK politics. The only time it really came into the national conscience is when Tony Blair converted to Catholicism. Even then he was treated with a suspicious eye. (mainly because the UK have never forgiven him for the Iraq war.) to British eyes, having the specific religion of a candidate on TV is very unusual. |