Spectator letters: Julie Burchill’s faith, Belgravia’s basements, and the real cost of rail commuting

Burchill’s flimsy faith

Sir: It is funny that it now falls to the Julie Burchills of this world, the old rebels of the cultural left, to speak up for Christianity in Britain (‘For God’s Sake’, 26 April). Good for her, I say, especially since she identifies Protestantism as the greatest force for liberty in this country — her argument is all the more convincing for being so unfashionable these days.

The trouble, however, is that to stand up for Christian values in a time of relativism and multi-faith confusion, it helps to at least have some faith in what you are saying. Burchill’s admission that she’s ‘too shallow’ to think about life and death is commendably honest, but it leaves us with a defence of the Church of England that amounts to little more than nostalgia for the old days and a fear that, if it weren’t for Christianity, all we would be left with is angry atheists and angrier Islamism.