I think it’s also important to separate what makes people happy from what we should be doing.
Abolishing slavery annoyed a lot of people, but their frustration was not a reason to prevent change.
Giving women the vote was equally frustrating to many, but the fact that clearly benefited some but not others was irrelevant to whether we’d agree it was the right thing to do.
This is not the same as those arguments, but it demonstrates that the majority of any group of people could be incandescent with rage but that would have nothing to do with whether or not something was right.
I strongly submit that being inclusive, which is something we and the RBL say we value, means we have an organisational duty to walk that walk, especially because inclusion often means providing a safe and welcoming space for the minority.
Contrary to the above stats provided by the census, I maintain that the non-religious are the majority and yet, I support a neutral ceremony, rather than changing it to one that rams any remotely atheistic messages down the throats of the religious.
Currently, the religious are the ones using the occasion to ram their religion down my throat.
Student from Saudi doing his JP3a flying trg at Church Fenton - spin recovery has to be demo’d to students & recovery action passed by the student before going off to do solo aerobatics.
QFI demo’s the first spin - high rotation in one direction, other symptoms, patter, patter. Recovery = power to idle, control column central & fully forward, check the “ball” in the slip & ball indicator, apply FULL opposite rudder, spin will stop, gently pull out of the dive applying power.
QFI climbs the aircraft back up to the designated safe altitude, initiates another spin - “You have control.”
“INSHALLAH, INSHALLAH.”
“Nope, Allah will not save you!!! Carry out the spin recovery action…”
Student wouldn’t, nor on another trip with different QFI, got sent home!
It was very true, I was at CF at the time - same period when a Saudi student went off the runway on take-off (think it was Linton) as he probably over-rotated at too slow a speed - so nosewheel off the ground, never going to go “up” just forward!
Crash crew got to the aircraft, no student pilot, engine still running. Search in immediate area, no student. Search expanded, no student!
He was eventually found - in his room in the Officers’ Mess!! Refused to say that it was him wot dun it (he had signed the F700) but then had to agree it was him. When put to him that he had more or less stalled on the runway, his answer was - “Impossible, I hadn’t done my pre-stall checks.”
I would suggested that perhaps the RBL is not the definitive source of information & that its marketing arm differs slightly from its operational aspect.
Interestingly the government describe the event as the “National Service of Remembrance”
The event does pre-date the RBL and a secular service in the 1920s when the vast majority of the country was religious (& Likly Protestant Christian as well) would have been so far ahead of its time as likely to be an alien concept.
The service order published by HMG also suggests topics for people’s “thoughts & prayers” during the two minute silence.
I think it would be fairer to say that the National Service of Remembrance has had a level of religious input reflecting the culture & beliefs of the population at that time.
Now linking back to the topic, the population has changed, but the service has not which is why we’re discussing it here.
I understand the point you’re making, but that’s not a counter.
We’ve also referenced the fact that the Cenotaph in London is deliberately devoid of religious iconography (as with war graves being non-descript in shape) deliberately so that it was secular and inclusive.
That at a time when the population was much more religious.
The Civil Service has just revealed that those declaring they aren’t aligned to any religious belief now outnumber those who declare they fall under the umbrella of “Christian”.
Almost the same number chose not to even answer the question, which anecdotally reflects apathy or disinterest in the question (therefore normally someone who doesn’t feel they align to a religious belief but hasn’t given it enough thought to really care about positively identifying with anything else).
With space for the appropriate religious symbol. Happy to be corrected but I’ve never seen a blank/atheist headstone in AA commonwealth war grave cemetery
Plenty of graves with unit badges on instead, or in addition to.
The point is the shape of the grave is deliberately inclusive, rather than making them all crosses and alienating everyone who isn’t a Christian (which includes lots of other religious people).
This way, everyone gets a uniform standard and they’ve been free to put something on it that meant something to them.
Refused to say that it was him wot dun it (he had signed the F700) but then had to agree it was him. When put to him that he had more or less stalled on the runway, his answer was - “Impossible, I hadn’t done my pre-stall checks.” 
