This is probably tangential to your question, but a big part of Tony Blair's unpopularity in Britain is due to his overt religiosity - it's considered vulgar and tasteless by most Brits to go around in public making a big deal of one's religious beliefs. (The rules are different in Northern Ireland, apparently.) You have to understand that in the last few decades Britain has become a determinedly secular society. Even though the Church of England is the official established church, it's considered mainly a part of the social fabric and a bit of quaint pomp and circumstance, like the changing of the guard outside Buck Palace. A cynic would say that the CoE was founded for the convenience of a serial wife killer, or as the poem says: "The foundation stones of your temple were the bollocks of Henry the Eighth." The church is all about investing the British establishment with an air of divine authority, and has really little or nothing to do with spirituality. That's why most Brits shake their heads in puzzlement at someone who is overly religious - it's like he's missing the point and failing to get a joke that everyone else is in on.