At the beginning of Holy Week this year, David Cameron made another foray into religious affairs. It was a rare glimpse of that elusive aspect of the Prime Minister's character - his Christian faith.
Mr Cameron's most significant defence of Christianity to date was during the celebrations for the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible (see Jack's and Daniel's comments). He claimed:
"Britain is a Christian country and we should not be afraid to say so... the Bible has helped to give Britain a set of values and morals which make Britain what it is today."
It is Christianity's conceptualisation of the nation that is at the heart of Mr Cameron's moral code. This is evident in his vision for a 'Big Society', where responsibility, duty and community are most valued. And of course the institution that upholds the Christian faith and defends these values is the Church of England.
The local church is often at the heart of our communities. It provides spiritual support as well as voluntary assistance to charities, social enterprises and, importantly, schools.
The Church of England currently educates one million children in 4,800 schools, making it the biggest single provider of education in this country. Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, has reaffirmed the Conservative party's commitment to supporting faith schools by urging the Church to run more academies.
Throughout the Conservative party's long history, the defence of the established Church has been second nature. Christian morality has been a significant guide for many One Nation Conservatives, including Harold Macmillan, who said:
"If you don't believe in God, all you have to believe in is decency. Decency is very good. Better decent than indecent. But I don't think it's enough."
A Christian 'fightback' should be supported by One Nation Conservatives within the context of greater toleration. We live in a pluralistic society. Other cultures must be respected. Yet Christians have become somehow exempted from the toleration afforded to others and fair game for discrimination by aggressive secularists.
Wearing a cross at work, holding town hall prayers (see Jack's comments on these pages), Norwich County Council's banning of a local church from a community centre.
It is appalling that this victimisation of ordinary Christians is happening at the same time that Yusuf al-Qaradawi is allowed to stay in this country, be embraced by Labour's London mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone, and defend suicide bombing, wife beating and the violent persecution of Jews and homosexuals.
Discrimination against Christians has also been a defining feature of the debate about same-sex marriage, in which opponents are brazenly dismissed as homophobes. The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, for instance, is opposed to gay marriage but supports civil partnerships and has certainly not expressed hatred towards homosexuals.
It also says a lot about the current state of the debate that the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, is forced to ban "gay cure" adverts from the capital's red buses, while Christians offended by gay rights charity Stonewall's campaign are denounced as bigots.
How can we possibly have a grown-up debate about an important subject such as same-sex marriage if senseless demonisation is allowed to trump rational discussion?
Whatever side you take, there is a principle at stake here. Toleration has to incorporate toleration of those people who we disagree with or believe to hold intolerant views. It is time for toleration in Britain to live up to Voltaire's famous and apocryphal quotation: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
Regrettably, Mr Cameron's attempts to tackle aggressive secularism have been undermined by George Osborne's recent blunders over the so-called 'charity tax'and 'heritage tax'.
The Government is launching a formal consultation on charity tax relief and will hopefully heed the advice given by Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister, on BBC's Newsnight recently.
But we have yet to see if the Government will reverse its decision to slap a VAT bill of £20 billion on the 12,500 listed church buildings. There is already an e-petition with a growing number of signatures demanding that the VAT zero rate on alterations to listed buildings be revived.
This hit to charitable giving and listed buildings threatens irreparable and unnecessary harm to churches such as Wakefield Cathedral. Many churches stand as bastions of beauty and monuments to tradition. Several have stood since Norman times. It would be a crime against our common heritage to allow these tax policies to continue.
Once upon a time it could be said, with some truth, that the Church of England was 'the Tory party at prayer'. David Cameron and other One Nation Conservatives should have the courage of their convictions to defend and praise the established Church's role in the spiritual life of the nation and the wellbeing of communities; to fight for full religious toleration; and to conserve our precious buildings.
This article first appeared on the Egremont blog