"Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the UK's most senior Roman Catholic, has said secularism seeks to wipe out Christianity as religious intolerance increases.
The cardinal mounted a critical attack on atheism and its attitude to those with religious beliefs, warning: "In the name of tolerance it seems to me tolerance is being abolished."
In an address at Leicester's Anglican Cathedral, he spoke of a "deep unease" in western society.
He said secular values were behind the violence carried out in totalitarian states and some of the 20th century conflicts that have killed millions, it was reported.
"Our danger in Britain today is that so-called western reason claims that it alone has recognised what is right and thus claims totality that is inimical to freedom," he said in comments.
"No one is forced to be a Christian. But no one should be forced to live according to the new secular religion as if it alone were definitive and obligatory for all humankind.""