A self-described “atheist pastor” is a bestselling author in the Netherlands. The Rev Klaas Hendrikse's book, Believing in a God Who Does Not Exist: Manifesto of an Atheist Pastor, published in November, is being reprinted for the third time. “The non-existence of God is for me not an obstacle but a precondition to believing in God,” he says.

The atheist author Richard Dawkins says he is “a cultural Christian” who likes “singing carols along with everybody else. I'm not one of those who wants to purge our society of our Christian history”.

Hong Kong's oldest citizen, a Chinese Trappist monk, has died at the age of 110. The Rev Nicholas Kao Se-Tsien had recited the rosary 15 times a day for world peace since 1932.

The Foreign Office has produced a leaflet advising British Muslims travelling to Saudi Arabia for the haj pilgrimage. Available on the Foreign Office website, the leaflet warns that Saudi Arabia does not recognise dual nationality and may confiscate second passports.

The History and Culture of Jews in Russia, a permanent exhibition, opened this week in the Museum of Ethnography, St Petersburg.

A Spanish government poll found that 83 per cent of Muslim immigrants have adapted to Spanish society and customs and are “tolerant, Westernised and liberal”. Ninety per cent of the 2,000 legal and illegal immigrants polled opposed the use of violence to defend religious belief.

Austrian churches have announced plans to evangelise fans at the Uefa Euro 2008 football championship. “By getting involved in Euro 2008, the churches will seek to reveal Christ to people,” said Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria. Bishop Herwig Sturm, the Lutheran chairperson of Austria's Ecumenical Council of Churches, added: “We want to help create a joyful and peaceful climate for each match.”