Baroness Warsi's strike at 'secular fundamentalists' as she meets Pope Baroness Warsi expanded on a speech she gave in Rome on Tuesday, and an article she wrote for The Daily Telegraph, that British society was under threat from a rising tide of "militant secularisation" and that Europe needs to be "more confident in its Christianity." Speaking after her meeting with the Pope, she said: "Secular fundamentalists are saying that people of faith shouldn't have a voice in the public sphere. I'm saying faith should be one of many voices, it should be part of the debate. She criticised the arguments of Richard Dawkins, the outspoken atheist, as "false." According to a study carried out for Prof Dawkins's think tank, most people in Britain who identify themselves as Christian are "overwhelmingly secular in their attitudes on issues ranging from gay rights to religion in public life." Almost three-quarters of people interviewed agreed that religion should not influence public policy, while only 12 per cent thought it should. Nearly half had not attended a church service in the previous 12 months, apart from on occasions such as weddings, funerals and christenings. Asked if she was swimming against the tide in a country where faith appears to be diminishing every year, Baroness Warsi said: "The fact that people don't go to church doesn't necessarily make them secular." Evan Harris, the vice-president of the British Humanist Association and an honorary associate of the National Secular Society, said: "Baroness Warsiis wrong on every count. Secular liberal democracy, which involves the separation of Church and State and an end to religious privilege, is the best guarantor of religious liberty and free expression. The last thing the world needs is more theocracies or governments giving special status to religious laws. To talk of militant secularism is self-serving paranoia. What a pity that ministers are going to a totalitarian theocracy - the Vatican State - with a poor record on gay rights, women's rights and children's rights, to criticise those who peacefully campaign against sharia (law), sectarianism and homophobia as 'militant'. The visit led by Baroness Warsi cemented ties between Britain and the Holy See, 30 years after the UK upgraded its relations to full diplomatic status, and 18 months after Pope Benedict's visit to Britain. She and the other ministers, including Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, Michael Moore, the Scottish Secretary and Alan Duncan, the Minister for International Development, met with Vatican officials in one-on-one talks and then in a round-table discussion. They discussed religious freedom, international development, climate change, the crisis in Somalia and the Horn of Africa and the situation in Syria. They issued a joint declaration calling for an "immediate end" to violence in Syria and pointed to "the role which Christians can play" in the region. Nigel Baker, the British ambassador to the Holy See, said there was an opportunity for Britain's international networks, through organisations such as the Commonwealth, to mesh with the Vatican's extensive overseas contacts, maintained through papal nuncios and Catholic charities. "There are places where they are strong on the ground and can help us engage, and there are places where we are strong, for instance in Commonwealth countries," he said. The fact that the British delegation was met by the Pope was an honour, the ambassador said. It's quite rare for a delegation that is not at head of state or head of government level to be received by the Pope. It's an indication of the weight that the Holy See is giving to this visit.