Ian Bradley makes a unique contribution to the current debate about British identity. It is often claimed that Great Britain is one of the most secular nations on earth, but Ian Bradley argues that 'Britishness' (like the overlapping crosses on the 400-year-old Union flag) is best understood in religious terms. He maintains that the idea of 'being British' has special value as a broad church measure of spiritual and cultural inclusiveness - and as a positive alternative to fundamentalism, narrow nationalism and jingoism.The author explores the distinctive contributions to Britishness made over the centuries by the Celtic traditions of the Welsh and Irish, the Anglo-Saxon strain of tolerance associated with the English, the moral seriousness of the Scots, and the characteristics of exuberance, modesty and reserve introduced by new black and Asian Britons. Looking to a new sense of British identity that combines myth, imagination and tradition with an open-minded respect for difference, "Believing in Britain" makes a thoughtful and challenging contribution to one of the most important discussions of our time.