ABSTRACT
Just before Christmas 2011, the British Prime Minister caused a stir by claiming that Britain was a Christian country. The context was a speech celebrating the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, but made in the shadow of the inner-city riots of the previous August. David Cameron claimed that one significant legacy of this Bible translation was that it had ‘helped to shape the values which define our country’ and listed, among others, responsibility, compassion and humility. These are, he claimed, ‘Christian values’. However he was quick also to point out that these values ‘speak to us all – to people of every faith and none’ and urged everyone that ‘we should all stand up and defend them’.
