There is a much quoted Census figure from 2001. It says that 72% of the population of England and Wales gave their religion as Christianity. Only one fifth said they had no religion or refused to answer the question. We appear to be living in 'a Christian society'.

Odd, then, that only seven years later the media are debating 'the loss' of Christian values and whether their disappearance contributes to social decline.

"The values and virtues of Great Britain have been formed by the Christian faith," wrote Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, in the new political magazine, Standpoint.

"The consequences of the loss of this discourse are there for all to see: the destruction of the family; the loss of a father figure; the abuse of substances; the loss of respect for the human person leading to horrendous and mindless attacks on people."

The thrust of the bishop's argument is that as we look back in history, we find that Christian values have been central to a shared British identity, to a sense of social cohesion and as the major contributor to the public good. Today, as we lose those values, so we lose that identity, society fragments and a moral vacuum emerges. Citizenship tests and teaching merely skirt around the problem. Instead, we need to learn to appreciate what 'Christian values' have given us and be clear about what we stand to lose: equality, the dignity of the human person, freedom in the context of the common good, safety from harm for the individual as well as society, and hospitality. We should not, the bishop warns, "be too sanguine that other world-views or traditions will necessarily produce the same values or put the same emphasis on them."

Now, I share the bishop's concerns about a fragmented and isolated society, within which certain people are cut off and penalised by the same economic systems that benefit people like me. And I admire a person who is prepared to speak out, to bring their beliefs into the arena of public debate.

However, I am not convinced that history provides the best platform for promoting Christian values today (not least because there were victims as well as benefactors of Britain's 'Christian' past).

Values only flourish when people respect them, and respect does not come easily from looking to the past. Instead, respect comes from seeing values practised today, and permitting people to make up their own minds about whether those values contribute to the health of society and the public good.

Jim Wallis (an American preacher and political activist) observes: "we Christians have a serious problem. Most people have the idea that Christians and the Church are supposed to stand for the same things that Jesus did. When we don’t stand for the things that Jesus did, people get confused and disillusioned. Like I say, it's a problem."

Such a statement challenges Christians to step out from the churches and into a broken world - to display their Christian values.

But perhaps they are already doing that and it needs to be recognised?

A recent and widely-published report by the Von Hügel Institute in Cambridge noted that there are thousands of Christian charities across the country but that many feel chronically underappreciated by local and national government. Entitled Moral, but no Compass it reports that:

"Government is ... experienced at the local and national level in negative ways. Its perceived discrimination against the Christian Church and other religious bodies ... suggests a policy-making environment that has essentially excluded, or pushed to the margins, social voices (not just religious ones) that are vital to civic debate."

The report calls for a fresh dialogue, starting "with the open and enthusiastic recognition of what the Church already does in every county and constituency in the country" and which could lead to "new work alongside the poorest and neediest in the UK and abroad."

Has there been a loss of Christian values in the UK? Probably. Does it have an adverse impact upon society? Possibly. But at the heart of both issues is the under-appreciation of how Christians and other faith groups remain active in serving the needs of communities, neighbourhoods and of society today.

Rich Harris is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Geographical Sciences and the Centre for Market and Public Organisation at the University of Bristol. Click here to go to his website.