If anybody had predicted 30 years ago that religion would become one of the most explosive areas of early 20th century life, they would have been regarded as deluded. While institutional Christianity in Britain is on the wane, fundamentalism seems to have mass appeal and atheists have recently found a voice condemning the felt tyranny of the Church over the enlightenment project. The Anglican Church is about to tear itself apart over its attitude to homosexuality and, perhaps the greatest symbol of impotence, crucifixes are worn more often as fashion accessories than as statements of faith.

These are confusing times. Wearing a cross to your job at British Airways causes huge controversy but Christian students are not allowed to wear purity rings to school. Muslim women are permitted certain kinds of headscarves but not the full veil in the classroom.

This is where I declare my hand. I’m no missionary but my Christian faith has been at the centre of my life for nearly twenty years. I don’t play guitar in church, I’m married to a rabid atheist. When Richard Dawkins attacks some of the most blatant abuses of religious power, I have to agree with him, although I find Christopher Hitchens’s vein of mockery simply immature. I know that I could not have survived as a person had I not started living my life differently – in reference to God rather than myself – when I was going through a period of utter bankruptcy. I can remember the very moment this decision was made and it changed everything. I’ve been going along quietly, following my own spiritual path, which has included a twelve-step programme, a period studying Zen meditation and now membership of the Church in Wales, not bothering anybody and suddenly, I find my kind of faith being attacked from several sides. To the secular mainstream, who think of Christmas as a shopping opportunity, I’m a wet irrelevance. To the fundamentalist Christian, I’m a doctrinal wimp because I don’t believe in the literal truth of hell fire. To the Islamic fundamentalist I’m kafir and need to be converted to Islam or killed.