I have always detested religious prejudice, whether directed at Methodists, Mormons, Muslims, or anyone else. I don’t know why it bothers me so much. Perhaps it has to do with my own background, Ulster Catholic on one side and Scots Presbyterian on the other, a combination that (trust me on this) gives you an exceptionally keen nose for sectarianism. Or perhaps it has to do with an understanding of where religious bigotry can lead.

Arguments about religion, after all, are not like arguments over immigration policy or healthcare. They are literally disagreements about the most important things in the universe. That is why we have learned, in modern democracies, to conduct them carefully.