Lord Melbourne, the 19th-century Prime Minister, once said, after hearing an evangelical sermon: “Things have come to a pretty pass when religion is allowed to invade the sphere of private life.”

In recent times it has rather been the presence of religion in public life that has created controversy. The problem is that religion cannot keep itself to itself. It deals with everyday issues and cannot be disentangled from the fabric of our everyday life.

Christian theology teaches that human beings are created in the image of a Trinitarian God - Father, Son and Spirit. The implications of this are twofold: First, human beings are social creatures, designed to relate to each other and to their Creator. Secondly, human beings are responsible both to God and to one another. In short, we flourish together or not at all.

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