PM Gordon Brown has launched a new consultation involving the Labour Party, churches and faith communities. It will focus on identifying the values held in common by different faiths and beliefs - ones that also echo with the non-religious.
The Cambridge-based Von Hugel Institute's report on church, government and social welfare is creating a lively media and political talking point following its launch in London yesterday.
When it comes to religion and public life, there is frequently unhelpful confusion in the debate, says Simon Barrow. Initial responses to the Von Hugel report on church and welfare illustrate this.
The new Cambridge report on church, government and public welfare (Moral, But No Compass) raises plenty of important questions - which the immediate media furore is in danger of missing or distorting.
A report looking at the role of the Church of England and other faith communities in public welfare provision has been spun into an attack on government before it has even been published and read, say the researchers behind it.
Among secular groups there is puzzlement and annoyance that government continues to 'pander' to weakened churches in areas like public service provision. This is because, says Jonathan Bartley, they have not grasped the mutual interests involved. These are as much a threat to the churches as an advantage.