A majority of Britons believe that religion is a force for good, according to a new survey carried out on the eve of the Pope’s visit to the UK.

In addition, 49 percent versus 28 percent believe faith-based schools have a right to exist.

The poll, conducted on behalf of The Tablet, found that fifty-two per cent of British people agree with the statement, “Religion is, on balance, a force for good”.

This figure rises to 60 per cent among those aged over 65.

Twenty two per cent disagreed with the statement. Twenty four per cent didn’t know or had no opinion.

Nearly half of respondents (49 per cent) agreed with the statement “Religious organisations should be allowed to run some schools”.

Twenty eight per cent of people disagreed with this statement, with 14 per cent disagreeing strongly and 14 per cent tending to disagree.

There is strong support for British society retaining its Christian culture – 84 per cent among Catholics and 67 per cent among all those polled. The Catholic Church’s strong moral views are judged positively by three-quarters of Catholics though less so by the general public, with only 46 per cent being positive.

The survey was conducted by Ipsos MORI in the lead up to the Pope’s visit to the UK late this month, and was based on face-to-face interviews with 996 British people over the age of 15. Of these, 117 were Catholics reflecting their proportion of the general population.

When asked whether they agreed with the statement “The Roman Catholic Church, is on balance a force for good” 41 per cent of all those questioned agreed with the statement with 17 percent disagreeing.

Most of the general public have yet to make up their mind either way about the papal visit – two-thirds (63 per cent) say they neither support nor oppose it.

Supporter of the visit outnumber opponents by more than two-to-one (25 percent to 11 percent), indicated that hardline secular opposition to the visit is greatly overstated.