Bishops of the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church meeting together from time to time, as they did in Leeds this week, seems such an obvious idea that it is surprising it has not happened before. This coming together of the bishops of England may be a recognition that theological convergence between the two Churches has gone as far as it can - indeed, now faces new difficulties - and that "doing ecumenism" needs inventing. They are dealing with a society that gives the impression, perhaps misleadingly, of becoming aggressively secular. There is a temptation to circle the wagons against the foe outside.

"There is a strong tendency by commentators to try to make religion a private affair and that is something that should be resisted," said Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, added: "We must stand together to show that Christians are part of the solution, not the problem." Thus they endorsed a diagnosis that has achieved something of a Church consensus in recent months - that secularist forces in society, by virtue of being over-represented among the media, have been allowed to punch above their weight. The point was made last year in a submission by leaders of faith communities to the House of Lords Select Committee on BBC Charter Renewal, which declared: "The BBC ought not to see the world entirely through the prism of the metropolitan liberal and secular elite's values which inevitably inform the editorial process for the majority of the programme makers." Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, said recently that the BBC was dominated by the "chattering classes" who "saw themselves as holding the flag for Britain, and that Britain is definitely secular and atheist".

Clerical irritation is similarly and rightly directed at public bodies, which claim it is discriminatory, and offensive to other religions, to behave as if Christianity was the ...

Alastair Campbell, the Prime Minister's former press secretary, once famously said: "We don't do God," expressing a common view that religion and politics do not mix. Certainly today, Britain often seems a markedly secular country. Strident voices can regularly be heard denouncing religion.

But according to research published this week by the newly established religious think tank, Theos, the ...

To the delight of environmentalists, global warming has been catapulted to the top of the domestic political agenda by the publication of the massive and authoritative Stern Report. Now Al Gore, no less, has been assigned to take the report's message to America, where refusal to take the threat of climate change seriously is the single most important reason the world has so far failed to come to grips with the ...

The Government has found itself with a scrap on its hands it clearly never bargained for, as the Catholic Church flexes its political muscles to thwart a plan rightly seen as an attack on the very principle of Catholic schools. The Archbishop of Birmingham, Vincent Nichols, has written to every head teacher pointing out the importance of contacting local MPs to show how widespread is the consternation in the Catholic ...

The Catholic community in Britain is entering a difficult period in its relations with wider society. The background cultural climate is becoming less friendly - Matthew Arnold's "long withdrawing roar" of the sea of faith seems to have been replaced by a surging incoming tide of antagonistic secularism, at least among some decision makers and commentators. For them "faith" signifies either ...