We spent part of last year in England, and once I got used to cars on the wrong side of the street, naked women in the newspaper, and vegetables that actually tasted like vegetables, I realized that two of the biggest differences between England and America are the absence of religion and the presence of class. Actually, I shouldn’t say religion is absent, given this recent debacle, but Christian fundamentalism just isn’t an issue (which in turn made me realize, as if I didn’t already know it, how absolutely dominant Christian fundamentalism is here).
What does this mean for public discourse? It means that reasonable discussions take place about things like abortion and gay rights--often the Tories are more liberal on gay rights than Labour. It also means that discussions like this don’t take place at all, because everyone accepts the basic premises of evolution. Imagine that!
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