He found the uproar all the more striking as he had just returned from China, where religion has been officially suppressed for 57 years, and where, as a result, political leaders now worry about the moral vacuum in a society that has encouraged a capitalism that has fostered a driven and selfish climate. The Chinese, like the Russians earlier, are finding that state-sponsored atheism cannot eradicate religious beliefs deeply embedded in national culture and tradition.

Dr Williams was allowed to meet only those church leaders officially sanctioned by Beijing (and he earned himself some criticism for accepting this limitation). He identified, nevertheless, a yearning for a spiritual dimension in Chinese society. What he has found on his return is that this yearning is not peculiar to China. If the 20th century was an age of fiercely competing secular ideologies, where communism, fascism, socialism and nationalism focused people’s ideals and energies on the political struggle, this century has seemed like a throwback to an earlier age in which the great issues of the day are those of belief, faith and spiritual identity. Secular politics have become boring to many people, evoking apathy rather than fervour. And where there is still a passionate engagement — in the environment, animal liberation or anti-globalisation — the cause has been embraced with quasi-religious fervour.

The debate is particularly intense in Britain, paradoxically, because this country’s secular values are so close to those of its established Church. Like most of Western Europe, our society has been framed by the furious religious controversies centuries ago. But it has long ago accepted the compromises, and has separated the values it holds dear from their scriptural origins. Secular Britain places high value on tolerance, freedom and independence — as do most Christian churches in this country, as the Government has found with its derailed school quota plans. Until recently, however, there was almost embarrassment at any mention of God: that part of our culture had been firmly removed from the mainstream, and believers were thought to be gullible eccentrics.

It is the challenge to these settled values and assumptions that has reawakened some of the religious controversies common in British history. The biggest shock has come from Islamist extremism: not only in the form of terrorism, but also in the rejection of secularism, which, in Britain, derives from a religious heritage. But a younger generation, as unsatisfied as the Chinese with crass materialism, has fuelled the revival of interest in faith. This has not made Britain more religious. But it has meant that the political debate is framed by issues of faith placing a new onus on religious leaders such as Dr Williams. It is a challenge he obviously welcomes.