The economist is this week doing a 10-page special report on relgion. What it is concluding is that religion is back with a vengance:

"In 1960 John Kennedy pleaded with Americans to treat his Catholicism as irrelevant; now a born-again Christian sits in the White House and his most likely Democrat replacement wants voters to know she prays. An Islamist party rules once-secular Turkey; Hindu nationalists may return to power in India's next election; ever more children in Israel and Palestine are attending religious schools that tell them that God granted them the whole Holy Land. "

and is here to stay both in the personal and the political field:

"Atheists and agnostics hate the fact, but these days religion is an inescapable part of politics. Although it is not the state's business “to make windows into men's souls”, it is part of the government's job to prevent grievances from stirring into bloodshed, and fanatics from guiding policy. But it isn't easy. Catholics did not get back into Parliament for 224 years after the Gunpowder Plot. Unless politicians learn to take account of religious feelings and to draw a firm line between church and state, the new wars of religion may prove as intractable. "

However, it's solution to draw the line between Church and State may be a little difficulyt to achieve as it points out. I wonder is Rowan Williams comments about the creation of Moral Communities might be a way forward. It is important to have engagement between Church and State, but this engagement must not become set inn biogtry. Instead, allowing the creation of moral and also religious communities withiin a democratic state that engage and debate with one-anohter retains something of the character or the moral and religious state without the danger of a new 16th and 17th century war or reigion.

In any rate a very good set of articles and well worth reading.