Letter: Marxism and Methodism

Saturday 30 July 1994 23:02 BST

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ALAN Watkins's superficial survey of Christian Socialism in Britain managed not to mention its main founders, such as F D Maurice and Charles Kingsley, or its main representatives in the Labour leadership, such as Keir Hardie and George Lansbury. It also failed to offer any balancing consideration of the equally significant opposite tradition of secular socialism, including such leading figures as Thomas Paine, William Morris, Bernard Shaw, H G Wells, George Orwell, Michael Foot and so on. The Labour Party may well owe more to Methodism (and High Anglicanism) than to Marxism, but it also owes much to the Secular and Ethical Societies and the whole free-thought movement.

Nicolas Walter

Humanist Centre

London WC1

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