Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor: religious intolerance will wipe out Christianity

The cardinal mounted a critical attack on atheism and its attitude to those with religious beliefs, warning: "In the name of tolerance it seems to me tolerance is being abolished."

In an address at Leicester's Anglican Cathedral, he spoke of a "deep unease" in western society.

He said secular values were behind the violence carried out in totalitarian states and some of the 20th century conflicts that have killed millions, it was reported.

"Our danger in Britain today is that so-called western reason claims that it alone has recognised what is right and thus claims totality that is inimical to freedom," he said in comments.

"No one is forced to be a Christian. But no one should be forced to live according to the new secular religion as if it alone were definitive and obligatory for all humankind."

The Cardinal retired as Archbishop of Westminster, and leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, three years ago.

He remains the senior Cardinal in the British Isles and, alongside Cardinal Keith O’Brien in Scotland, he is a voting member of the body which will chose the next Pope – a position he will relinquish later this year when he turns 80.

In a wide-ranging lecture, he also discussed the importance of the family unit, religious freedom and questions such as assisted suicide.

He added: "The propaganda of secularism and its high priests want us to believe that religion is dangerous for our health. It suits them to have no opposition to their vision of a brave new world, the world which they see as somehow governed only by people like themselves.

"They conveniently forget that secularism itself does not guarantee freedom, rationality ... or violence. Indeed, in the last century, most violence was perpetrated by secular states on their own people."

He also said the whole of society was guilty of “sanctioning violence” against the elderly by everyday prejudices, viewing them as an expensive burden.

He said a loss of “reverence” for humanity meant that some of the most vulnerable people in society are now routinely viewed as a “problem” or “threat”.

And he said that political decisions to cut back on vital care services amounted to denying older people’s fundamental right to life.

He quoted Cicero to illustrate that debates about care for the elderly date back millennia.

“An ageing population certainly presents its challenges – not least to our prejudices – but it is also an extraordinary gift,” he continued.

“When society only sees age as an expensive inconvenience, a threat to resources and lifestyles, it no longer sees a person but a problem.

“This permits a slow erosion of dignity; subtly and silently the process of dehumanisation has begun.”