Stuart Jeffries piece on faith and unbelief is an example of a certain kind of liberal intellectual position which seeks to stand above the current debates about the place of religion in contemporary society, to (using the term Jeffries is so fond of) wryly adjudicate from the sidelines. His claim is that there is a vicious and uncompromising battle going on between two equally intolerant clans - "shrill camps shouting unedifyingly at each other" - the believers and the faithless. The core thesis is that rather than accepting the beliefs of others, secularists have become hysterical in their quest to "airbrush" religion from public debate, to create a soulless, value free public sphere.
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