Christians in Britain are too soft and should be more outspoken in defence of their beliefs, according to Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury.

Besides advocating a “tougher church”, Lord Carey also called for the immigration system to prioritise immigrants who respect Britain’s historic Christian values.

Lord Carey made his remarks in an interview for BBC Radio 5 live’s Breakfast programme.

He said: “I think we need a tougher church. We Christians are very often so soft that we allow other people to walk over us and we are not as tough in what we want, in expressing our beliefs, because we do not want to upset other people.

“We have got to be more outspoken.”

A member of the parliamentary Cross-Party Group on Balanced Migration, which has recently spoken out on the issue, Lord Carey said priority should be given to immigrants whose values are compatible with Britain’s Christian heritage.

He emphasised that he was not calling for a ban on non-Christian immigration, but warned that current immigration policy would lead to “deep trouble”.

Lord Carey also wrote a column in The Times yesterday in which he said: “It is my firm view that our society owes more to our Christian heritage than it realises and to overlook this inheritance of faith will lead to the watering down of the very values of tolerance, openness, inclusion and democracy that we claim are central to all we stand for.”

• Full story at the Christian Institute.

• Filed under Scottish Christian News Monitor, Secularism, Social Policy.