"If you get rid of religion you don't replace it with nothing, you replace it with anything," runs the pithy, but not wholly inaccurate, warning. And it's a line which makes even the most committed atheist pause for thought. It's a more specific version of the old "if you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything" line which you can happily attribute to first President of the United States Alexander Hamilton, Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X, or indeed Public Enemy's Chuck D, as is your fancy.
Both aphorisms amount to the same - some things are worth defending. And this , as the key festival of the Christian calendar is roundly ignored by our policy makers and business leaders alike (the same ones who fall over themselves to be seen to celebrate Eid, Vaisakhi, or Passover etc) it made me wonder if we aren't about to extinguish a key buttress of what makes Britain Britain. And maybe even this atheist thinks British Christianity might need defending.
Britain's version of Christianity has, it seems to me, always been a very practical, sleeves rolled up version.
It's a Christianity of jumble sales and church fetes helping glue communities and people together; it's a Christianity of celebration, of joyous births and happy marriages; and it is a Christianity of solemnity, of marking passings and helping comfort pain.
But it is also a Christianity of understanding, of tolerance and welcoming acceptance. Which is not an accusation you can level at all religions.
But Christianity is more than the sum of its parts listed above - it is, whether we know it or not, whether we see it or not, or whether we accept it or not, part of who we are as Brits, every last one of us.
It is built into our calendars, built into our social life and indeed built into our political philosophy. This is the nation of Hume, of Hobbes, of Locke of Jeremy Bentham and JS Mill - whose philosophies have Christianity baked into them.
Mill may have questioned organised religion but his gift to the world - Utilitarianism "the greatest happiness of the greatest number" - is very much a Christian concern and it still lies at the heart of Britain's democracy.
John Locke's deeply felt Christianity made him a powerful voice for the movement to abolish slavery calling it "vile and miserable an estate of man, and so directly opposite to the generous temper and courage of our nation."
God or no God, to lose the civilising impact of this religion on our national character would be a terrible mistake. Which is why Christians and non-Christians alike may be forgiven for being depressed by the Government's general low-key, borderline ignoring of the biggest celebration of the nation's official religion.
For millions of Christians Holy week started on Palm Sunday but Downing St - quick to Tweet out about even the most left-field religions - left it until Maundy Thursday to mention the faith is the nation's protector of.
Our major religion is either ignored or mocked while minority, imported faiths are celebrated. Ironically it is precisely this welcoming of other faiths that is a key trait of British Christianity.
Indeed British Christianity is so reviled and feared in some quarters one primary school scrapped an Easter parade and church service in the name of inclusivity. Christians still make up the single largest religious demographic group at 46 percent in the last census.
Like all religions Christianity has something of a patchy history, but right now the surviving churches in our communities are largely run by good people for good people.
Good people.
Remember them?
Good, tolerant, decent people who make up the backbone of Britain.
I fear when the churches are gone the good, tolerant, decent people may go with them.
Happy Easter.
