Community cohesion minister Parmjit Dhanda told a Westminster debate that the UK should "celebrate" Christianity's influence on its heritage and culture.

At the debate on "Christianophobia", the Government minister told MPs that Christianity had had a "significant impact" in gaining people's rights and freedoms, reports the BBC.

Dhanda, himself a Sikh, said that the Government admired the work of faith groups and that they had made a "huge difference" to regional regeneration and charity work both at home and abroad.

"I fully recognise the full historical and cultural significance [of Christianity] in our country. We should all be aware of that and celebrate that," he was quoted by the BBC as saying.

He also noted the importance of Christian campaigners in working for freedom of speech and religion.

"The Christian tradition has had a significant impact on the way these freedoms have been shaped," he said.

The debate held at Westminster Hall was called by Conservative MP Mark Pritchard who earlier said that the Government should not "surrender" the Christian heritage of the UK.

He also warned that failure to stop what he called the "politically correct brigade" from marginalising Christianity could lead to it being taken up by extremist parties.

UK Christianity was being undermined "mostly by stealth", Pritchard said. "Many shoppers find it increasingly difficult to buy greeting cards with references to Christ... Advent calendars are extremely hard to find."

He said, "Christ always has been and always will be at the very heart of Christmas. Taking Christ out of Christmas is like serving the Christmas turkey without the stuffing."

The executive director of the National Secular Society, Keith Porteous Wood, was quoted by the BBC as saying that the debate was a "waste of precious parliamentary time. Christians are not being pushed out of public life. If anything they are over-represented."

According to Pritchard, the British National Party in Staffordshire has started sending out cards showing the holy family with the words "heritage, tradition and culture".

He asked, "Is the government prepared to stand by and surrender the nation's Christian traditions to parties of hate?... [It is] time for the dragon of political correctness to be slain."