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"who were the people who campaigned for the abolition of slavery, welfare reforms etc in the past? Were they not committed Christians?"

Yes they were. It would have been most unusual if they weren't as nearly everyone in the UK in the late 1700s were Christians. BUT Wilberforce was an evangelical Christian, a group who were viewed by the established church as, at best, suspicious and at worst heretical. Also, Wilberforce's efforts were thwarted in the Lords in large part because of the opposition of the Lords Spiritual, the bishops who are appointed to the Lords as of right because they are the arbiters of moral excellence. One of those good men, the Bishop of Exeter, owned hundreds of slaves (branded on their chests to mark them as his property) and only agreed to free them after he had been paid an enormous sum in compensation.

It wasn't just slavery. The Bishops also opposed rights for women, laws to restrict child labour and they are now opposing equal rights for gay people. They do all of this with reference to THEIR scripture. Those of us who are not adherents to their faith find it anachronistic, even downright repugnant, that we should be told we must discriminate against a group of people simply because of something written in a book 2000 years ago in reference to a deity we do not believe in. We would prefer our laws to made in a more objective and inclusive atmosphere.

"So were are those who care now that there is far more slavery world-wide than ever before? Are the secularists pressing for such reforms now? I fear not."

You fear needlessly. I am a secularist and I am actively involved in combating human trafficking. The people I work with are a broad church, from atheists to Catholic priests.

"How would our country's voluntary sector/services function without its myriad Christian volunteers?"

No one is suggesting Christians should not be allowed to volunteer for charity. No one is suggesting they should not be allowed to hold whatever views on whatever matters they so choose. All that is being suggested is that the rest of us are allowed to hold our views and not to have our lives ruled by laws based on that dogma.

"There are far more church attenders than football spectators for example."

There are far more members of the RSPB than there are members of any political party, but no one is suggesting that our laws be made by twitchers or that Bill Oddie be granted a place in the House of Lords.