The British Government has appointed its first ever Minister for
Faith.

Prime Minister David Cameron appointed Baroness Sayeeda Warsi (pictured)
Minister for Faith and Communities in a cabinet reshuffle earlier
this week.

Formerly co-chairman of the Conservative Party and Minister
without Portfolio, Baroness Warsi becomes a Senior Minister of State
and will attend cabinet, although not as a full member.

The Muslim peer’s new ministerial role is in the Department for
Communities and Local Government.

A Whitehall source said that the announcement of a faith minister
at time when the Government is at odds with many of its traditional
supporters over gay marriage and is being taken to the European Court
of Human Rights over discrimination against Christians was
“tactical”, the Tablet reports.

In February, Baroness Warsi, a Muslim, said that British society
was under threat from a rising tide of “militant secularisation”
reminiscent of “totalitarian regimes”.

Ahead of a visit to the Vatican beginning today, Baroness Warsi
said she feared the marginalisation of religion throughout Britain
and Europe, saying that faith needs “a seat at the table in public
life”.

In an article for The Daily Telegraph, Baroness Warsi, said that
to create a “more just society” Britons needed “feel stronger
in their religious identities”.

Baroness Warsi said: “My fear today is that a militant
secularisation is taking hold of our societies. We see it in any
number of things: when signs of religion cannot be displayed or worn
in government buildings; and where religion is sidelined,
marginalised and downgraded in the public sphere.

“For me, one of the most worrying aspects about this militant
secularisation is that at its core and in its instincts it is deeply
intolerant. It demonstrates similar traits to totalitarian regimes –
denying people the right to a religious identity because they were
frightened of the concept of multiple identities.”

Baroness Warsi also said that Christianity is a vital part of
British life and warned of the dangers of eroding its importance.

“You cannot extract Christian foundations from the evolution of
our nations any more than you can erase the spires from our
landscape,” she will say in her speech.

“I see a great danger to this confident affirmation of religion
today. It is what the Holy Father called the ‘increasing
marginalisation of religion’ during his speech in Westminster Hall.
I see it in the United Kingdom and I see it in Europe. Spirituality,
suppressed. Divinity, downgraded.”