Ah, GUEST, would that it were so simple. "Keep religious celebrations in homes and churches where they belong, keep them out of the government and workplace, yes, and public schools", you say. But if you talk to religious people of whatever faith, they will inform you that their faith is with them all day long, and wherever they go. They don't hang it in the coat closet at home or keep it in a church or mosque or temple. They eat - or not - the appropriate things for their religion, they pray or follow other observances at the appropriate times, which (surprise) may well clash with working hours. They greet each other with the appropriate words, take the name of their God a number of times a day innocently ("God forbid", "in'sh'Allah" etc). They hold their religious parades and festivals. That is not the same as propagating their religion - merely observing its canons. Religion for them is a way of life, not a habit or an addiction like smoking, which they must keep out of sight lest they enrage the non-believers.

Let's not mix or confuse anti-religionism with multiculturalism. They are not the same thing. In my book anti-religionism is just another way to be fanatic, and equally as dangerous.

Neither is multiculturalism served my toning down the external signs and trappings of any religion. Quite the reverse, it ought to condone, accept, rejoice in and celebrate all of them.

We live between an English family (Church of England, visit it only for weddings and funerals, call them potential agnostics) and a Muslim one (from Bangladesh, very observant). And in the middle the Greek with his Easter-time frivolities like roasting lambs on spit and smoking crosses on the lintel over the door with the candle he brought lit from church. We join in each other's celebrations, and I love to see my Muslim neighbour on a Friday morning with his son, both dressed in their sparkling white kalabiyas on their way to the mosque. I will not look his young daughter or his wife in the face as I know it is offensive in their culture, even as I greet my own daughter's boyfriend who comes to stay and share her room and bed for the weekend. We may not agree with all of each other's practices. But we would not dream of criticising them.

That is multiculturalism: Absence of criticism of each other's cultural makeup and related behaviours. Not steamrollering them.