God was everywhere, once. Prayer was part of public life; places of worship marked our landscape. Today, though, a new spirit is blowing. Equality is the new deity, and its disciples will brook no dissent. They have turned on people of faith for holding antiquated values about marriage, the sanctity of life, and the role of women. In this new age of intolerance, believers may no longer publicly practise their religion – or even express some of its tenets. A nurse was suspended for praying for a patient; a lay preacher for reading out the Bible in the street.

Much of Europe is already becoming a no-God area; now the equality zealots seek to bring their campaign to America. But believers can fight back – by adopting the tactics of gay rights campaigners, who sought to achieve sympathy, admiration and familiarity. Then, and only then, will God be welcome in the West again.

Cristina Odone is a journalist for the Daily Telegraph. She broadcasts regularly for TV and radio and runs a website, freefaith.com. She is a former editor of the Catholic Herald and deputy editor of the New Statesman.

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