But new research from the religion and society think-tank Ekklesia suggests that those who want to keep the church defined by very narrow parameters are straying from well established Christian tradition.

Anglican wrangling about sexuality and authority in the church is missing the big picture about how the relationship between religion and society is changing, says a new book from the think tank Ekklesia to be published next week.

Encouraging people to commit to social justice, human dignity, equality, civic participation and peace-building is the way to create good citizens, says the religion and society think-tank Ekklesia, not attempts to impose symbols of state allegiance and inflated rhetoric about ‘national pride’.

The latest address by the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Church of England's General Synod has confirmed the move toward a 'multi-faith settlement' for religion in terms of law and governance in the UK, the religion and society think-tank Ekklesia says.

The think-tank Ekklesia, which examines religion in public life, says that the controversial appointment of the head of the Evangelical Alliance UK to the new Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is "a historic opportunity for evangelicals to shift toward full acceptance of the equalities agenda."

In June 2007 the Christian think-tank Ekklesia and the British Humanist Association wrote to the new Schools, Children and Families minister, Ed Balls MP, urging him to make progress on combating creationism in British schools. The government has subsequently issued its promised guidelines.

An opportunity to hear Professor Good, from the Episcopal Church's prestigious General Theological Seminary, at Ste Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace (78 Bishopsgate, EC2N 4AG) at 11am on Thursday 31 May 2007.

The patron saint of the English should be rebranded and St George's Day should become a national day of dissent, a religious think-tank is proposing.

Christian claims of discrimination are negative, fail to put across the gospel message of equality, and are based on mixed and questionable evidence, says Ekklesia

Responding to comments from Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster and the most senior figure in the Catholic Church in England and Wales, the independent UK religious think-tank Ekklesia says it is a mistake to automatically conflate church-based initiatives in civil society with government-sponsored services.

In light of a call today that Prince Charles should become the Defender of the Christian faith at his Coronation, and a feature by the Sunday Times asking whether it time to take 'God out of the state', the religious thinktank Ekklesia is urging a radical change in the way that the debate about religion and politics is framed.

Responding to the latest statement from the Church of England on admissions policy for faith schools, the UK Christian think tank Ekklesia has said that the Church's stance is “wholly inadequate” and that “using church-going as a way of assigning publicly-funded school places is wrong and un- Christian in principle.”

The UK Christian think tank Ekklesia and the British Humanist Association have today written to Education Minister Alan Johnson asking him to ensure that their guidelines are explicit in requiring teachers to maintain a wholly scientific perspective on the matter of the origin of species by evolution.

The continuing confusion of Christianity with the dominant assumptions and institutions of Western society is one of the main barriers to improved relations with Muslims, the UK think tank Ekklesia has suggested today.

A training course, believed to be the first to combine urban mission and church planting, is to equip participants to develop new and creative forms of church such as 'cafe churches', peace churches, virtual churches, new monastic communities and churches for the socially excluded.