Mr Atkinson - who used to deliver mock sermons o­n the comedy show Not the Nine O'Clock News - warned that British society would cease to permit "open and vigorous" debate and adopt "a veneer of tolerance concealing a snakepit of unaired and unchallenged views". At the meeting in Westminster, he insisted that "there should be no subjects about which you cannot make jokes".

Among teens who participated in such an activity, the survey found 43 percent attend church o­nce a week or more, 25 percent o­nce or twice a month and 21 percent less than o­nce a month. Nine percent of teens who said they participated in religious service projects "never" attend church.