Focusing on early 20th-century Britain, he describes in scholarly detail different strategies for harmonising faith and knowledge: the sought-after alliance between liberal theologians in the Church of England and religious-minded scientists, and the rather different efforts of science-minded writers such as Julian Huxley and George Bernard Shaw to foster a modern, non-Christian religion.

ECONOMIST: Religion and science

Even non-Christian founders thought religion essential.

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Lorraine Barrett, a former Welsh assembly member who now works as a humanist celebrant, said it was interesting that people had the confidence to declare themselves of no religion or non-Christian.

BBC: Census 2011: One third in Wales have no religion

"He has to appeal to the non-evangelical Republican voters, to those who do not put religion in first place, " Schneider said.

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This included setting up a spy network (known as The Sodality of Pius) to report any scholars and scientists suspected of believing things that most Catholics after Vatican II take for granted: freedom of religion, as well as respect for the traditions of non-Catholic faiths, and of course acceptance of the theory of evolution.

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Egypt, he says, is an album that "praises the tolerance of my religion" in an era where Islam has been largely misunderstood by non-Muslims.

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And religion matters far less than it did: church attendance, for Catholics and non-Catholics alike, is in steep decline.

ECONOMIST: How widespread is anti-Catholicism in Britain?