ADMIRAL Drax, my grandfather, was a prolific writer. Only recently, hidden in the basement, I found a number of pamphlets.

Following the Prime Minister’s Easter message that we should be “more confident about our status as a Christian country”, one of them caught my eye.

Entitled The Uncertain Future, published in 1967, my grandfather believed that voters would support the view that: “Our leader, and his colleagues, should have ideals based on a sound Christian faith and should not be afraid to let the world know it.”

David Cameron clearly agrees and he must have been surprised, like me, by the furore which followed his even-handed article in the Church Times last week.

In an open letter published in the Telegraph, 55 high-profile writers, broadcasters and scientists, stated that “Britain is not a Christian country” and “to claim otherwise fosters alienation and division in our society”.

However, others disagree which, interestingly, include the heads of the Muslim Council of Great Britain and the Hindu Council, who both acknowledge this is a Christian country with ‘deep historical and structural links to Christianity’. After all, our Queen is Supreme Governor of the Church of England, anointed by an archbishop at her coronation.

And you only have to look at our calendar, laws, ethics, art, music and literature, to name a few, to see how our faith is interwoven into the very fabric of our country.

My grandfather certainly believed that and I know he’d be disappointed at the relentless assaults on what he believed was the country’s guiding light.

Unfortunately, religion appears to attract views at both ends of the spectrum. However, one thing’s for sure, these 55 signatories will not face persecution for their comments in Christian, tolerant Britain.