By BBC NEWS - BBC NEWS WEBSITE
Added: Thu, 16 Sep 2010 13:32:56 UTC

The government wants church leaders to play a greater role in local communities, Conservative party chairman Baroness Warsi has said.

On the eve of the Pope's visit, Lady Warsi criticised the previous Labour government over its attitude to faith.

In a speech to Church of England bishops, she said the coalition would have a very different view to Labour.

Lady Warsi said David Cameron's Big Society proposals would help faith groups become more involved.

Speaking in Oxford, Lady Warsi promised a greater role for church leaders and a new approach to the role of faith in society.

She said there was a big problem over the way the state had handled faith and religion, and the previous government had got it profoundly wrong.

Lady Warsi, the first Muslim woman to serve in the cabinet, said the Labour government appeared to have viewed religion as "essentially a rather quaint relic of our pre-industrial history".

"They were also too suspicious of faith's potential for contributing to society - behind every faith-based charity, they sensed the whiff of conversion and exclusivity," she said.

"And because of these prejudices they didn't create policies to unleash the positive power of faith in our society."

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TAGGED: POLITICS, RELIGION, SECULARISM