Lord Carey (above) made the call in a piece for the Mail on Sunday called 'Why don't we teach migrants we are a Christian country'?
His piece comes as the Communities Secretary Sajid Javid (below) said in the Sunday Times that British politicians, civil servants and other holders of public office should have to swear allegiance to a set of 'British values', thought to revolve around tolerance, freedom of speech and respect for the law, in order to form an example to migrants coming to the UK.
In his own piece, Lord Carey argued Britain was abandoning its roots as a Christian nation in favour of a "watery liberalism" which is creating a "creeping culture of religious illiteracy" and "imposing a new form of intolerance" on Christians and other faiths who hold conservative beliefs.
The former archbishop proposed more questions about Christianity in the British citizenship test as a way of countering that.
He also called for the government to make Religious Education compulsory in the English Baccalaureate qualification and for more religious literacy training for senior judges, politicians and civil servants who could be working with people of faith.
He said: "In civil life as a whole, we are choosing to forget the Christian heritage which has contributed so greatly to our laws, rituals, language, our traditions and even our landscape.
"It is a preposterous yet dangerous state of affairs when Christmas cards are offensive, or when the Cross is banned because it is thought divisive.
"Ordinary British people are not drifting away from the Christian faith - look at the packed church carol services up and down the country.
"We should rejoice in our Christian identity as a nation and celebrate it."
