Fergus Finlay is a former political activist and adviser to three governments, the former head of the children's charity Barnardos, a writer and a broadcaster.
I took religion out of my life many years ago. There were reasons — some thought about long and hard, some instinctual. But I resolved when I was much younger that I didn’t want to be coerced into doing things I wouldn’t support by a structure I no longer believed in.
But if I left religion behind, maybe that’s not quite the same as saying that religion left me behind. Especially at this time of year, I find the symbolism captured in the story, the images, and perhaps above all the music of a religious Christmas extremely powerful.
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