AS soon as I heard a news item last week reporting that a senior judge, the President of the Family Division no less, had proclaimed that England was no longer a Christian country, I knew that the outraged emails would come flooding in.

Of course, as General Slim pointed out ‘nothing is ever as bad as reported’ and so it proved: when I read the judge’s actual remarks, I did not think they merited the headline; they struck me as the unexceptional and the obvious.

I do have a small but faithful following of emailers who jump at every indication of the decline of Christian values, for which some of them appear to hold me personally responsible.

On this occasion, as on so many others, they clearly hadn’t got so far as reading what the judge actually said, but had simply accepted the headline at face value, without realising that it was quite deliberately framed in that way so as to drive readers like themselves into a state of apoplexy.

I am not sure that we agree on what does constitute a Christian value, and I am certain that some of my more vociferous correspondents have no idea. As I have observed before, many of these emails so often lack any trace of that essential Christian attribute – charity.

The role of a judge is to apply the law in cases brought before him or her. They would be no use whatsoever if they allowed their own religious beliefs or prejudices to colour their judgements, and it would be intolerable if they did so.

Indeed, they take an oath (sworn on the Bible) promising to set aside their own prejudices and administer justice. If the law of the land is bereft of Christian values then the blame must lie not with judges who apply it, but with Parliament, which makes it.

Members of Parliament swear an oath of allegiance on the Bible and each sitting begins with formal prayers. I know that many Christians are shocked at some of the laws that have been passed, but on every one of the great moral and ethical issues where the debate has resulted in a change in the law, there have been Christian parliamentarians leading the debate on both sides of the argument.

The fact is that Christians do not agree among themselves on key moral questions.

My correspondents complain that Christians are persecuted in the UK. I gently point them in the direction of those countries where Christians really are being persecuted, and suggest that the plight of these people ought to take up more of their attention.

Of course, there was a case not too long ago where a councillor took his cause to court complaining that his human rights were being abrogated because, as an atheist, he had to endure prayers at the start of council meetings. The judge, instead of telling him to use a little common sense and turn up after prayers, ruled that the prayers were unlawful.

People still write to me using this as evidence. What they seem to have forgotten, however, is that within 48 hours of the judgement the Secretary of State, using powers granted to him by Parliament, had signed orders which effectively reversed that judgement and prayers continue to this day.

When people complain about the decline of Christianity, there really is only one answer: get out more and preach the Gospel (and, as St Francis instructed, only when absolutely necessary use words).