This was the motion debated at Union of the University of Exeter in January. I opposed the motion. Here’s what I said…

On one, very literal, level, it is easy to disprove this motion. Science has not buried religion, because religion still exists. In most parts of the world it does more than exist. It flourishes.

Sometimes, when I’m in the press room with colleagues on the national newspapers I have to remind myself of this fact. Much mainstream coverage of religion in this country is wedded to a narrative of irrelevance and decline, what Matthew Arnold called the “long, withdrawing roar” of the Sea of Faith.

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