Mary Louisa "Polly" Toynbee (; born 27 December 1946) is a British journalist and writer. She has been a columnist for The Guardian newspaper since 1998. She is a social democrat and was a candidate for the Social Democratic Party in the 1983 general election. She now broadly supports the Labour Party, although she has been critical of its current left-wing leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
Views on religion
An atheist, Toynbee is an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society and a distinguished supporter of the Humanist Society Scotland, and was appointed President of the British Humanist Association in July 2007. Since 2012 she has been the BHA's Vice President. She claimed that she is simply a consistent atheist, and is just as critical of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. She wrote: "The pens sharpen - Islamophobia! No such thing. Primitive Middle Eastern religions (and most others) are much the same - Islam, Christianity and Judaism all define themselves through disgust for women's bodies." In 1997 she declared "I am an Islamophobe and proud of it". In 2005 she opposed the Bill to outlaw incitement to religious hatred: "Race is something people cannot choose and it defines nothing about them. But beliefs are what people choose to identify with...The two cannot be blurred into one - which is why the word Islamophobia is a nonsense".  In 2003 upon the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's papacy, she wrote that he "is a hate-figure and with good reason...No one can compute how many people have died of Aids as a result of Wojtyla's power, how many woman have died in childbirth needlessly, how many children starved in families too large and poor to feed them. But it is reasonable to suppose these silent, unseen, uncounted deaths at his hand would match that of any self-respecting tyrant or dictator".  Toynbee had agreed to debate with the philosopher William Lane Craig during his UK October visit, but subsequently pulled out, saying "I hadn't realised the nature of Mr Lane Craig's debating style, and having now looked at his previous performances, this is not my kind of forum."  Toynbee has mixed feelings about the Church of England; she opposed both religious and secular dogmatic beliefs. In April 2014 she wrote:

Q: View views did she hold?
A: An atheist,

Q: Why did she hold this view?
A: Islam, Christianity and Judaism all define themselves through disgust for women's bodies.

Q: What did she mean by this?
A: she declared "I am an Islamophobe and proud of it

Q: What else did she proclaim?
A: Race is something people cannot choose and it defines nothing about them.

Q: Was this something that she was brought up in or did her views change?
A: unknown
Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
In 2003 upon the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's papacy, she wrote that he "is a hate-figure and with good reason...
In 2003 upon the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's papacy, she wrote that he "is a hate-figure and with good reason...