The sociologist Grace Davie has written a response to the question ‘Is Europe’s future Christian?’ in the Comment is free: Belief section of guardian.co.uk. She argues rather confusingly, it seems to me, that Europe is becoming increasingly secular, increasingly pluralistic, but nevertheless will preserve an essentially Christian character through immigration. How should Europe respond to this situation and the controversies that it will continue to generate?

Europe should recall its religious heritage, rather than deny it, and build on its positive dimensions – those of generosity and welcome. Europeans, moreover, should ensure that there is a place in their societies for those who take faith seriously, whatever that faith might be. These people will still be disproportionately Christian, but in ways rather different from their forebears. Little will be gained, conversely, by denying the realities of the past, by contempt for the seriously religious, and by the (sometimes deliberate) cultivation of ignorance about faiths of any kind.

There are some interesting comments attached.