I am an avid reader and longtime subscriber to the British conservative political magazine, The Spectator.  It contains some the best writing and, with a regular column by Rod Liddle, the lefty who writes like a righty, what is there not to love?

Matthew Parris is also one of the outstanding regular columnists. He has no Christian commitment but his writing is always perceptive and thought-provoking.  Indeed, it was one of things which kept Humphrey Bogart's spirits up in the dark years of the Second World War.  Parris's piece on the impact of the death of his father remains one of the best pieces I have ever read on the subject, capturing with painful sensitivity the strange sense of loss involved.  You can still read it here.

This week he takes on the trendy religious people, both the civic stability types and the navel-gazing postmodern Starbucks set.  We have all met them: the ones who think religion, whether true or false, is a good thing for society; or, even worse, those who have somehow come to think that doubt -- typically their own personal doubt -- is actually a normative part of biblical faith and thus to be imperialistically demanded of the rest of us.   With the insight of Nietzsche's Madman, Parris puts his finger on the various problems.  The piece is a more robust piece of theology than much of that which passes for such today.  If he was a Christian, he would make a fine spokesman for the faith.