Mal Fletcher says that undermining faith groups won't help us fight exremism

This move on the part of the Education Secretary will do very little to tackle the extremist narrative her boss has been addressing in Australia, though she is using this as her pretext.

It is bad politics and it ignores the important role the vast majority of Christian schools play in building healthy and cohesive communities.

It will likely be used as a pretext for further challenges to religious freedoms by some committed secularists and will only increase resentment among a community of schools which are among the biggest purveyors of positive aspiration and respectful citizenship in the land.

This type of move should not perhaps be surprising, however. The Tory-LibDem Coalition - and Mr. Cameron himself - have already proven adept at ignoring the sensibilities and convictions of many committed Christians.

I'm not for a moment suggesting the existence of any vast, comprehensive anti-Christian plot and it will not be helpful to their cause if faith communities adopt a victim mentality. Nevertheless a cultural bias (or cultural ignorance) does seem to exist, even at times in government - at least in regard to certain social policy issues.

Prior to the last election, the Prime Minister promised a national debate on the future status of marriage. Yet he quickly set about changing the age-old status of marriage as a unique bond between a man and a woman - against the wishes of many within his Party at the time.

This concept of marriage has provided the bedrock for the stable families and communities throughout our history. Its sanctity has been rooted in Judeo-Christian ethic and protected by religious teaching and activism.

On the many occasions in British history when governments were unable or unwilling to fight for families, it was often faith groups such as charities that stepped into the breach.

Mr. Cameron, however, decided that all the ancient shape of marriage could and should be changed by a single Act of Parliament, without any community debate - and very little debate within Parliament.

He and his coalition partner, Nick Clegg, pursued this fundamental change without having achieved a clear mandate at the elections. Though more than a few within the faith communities - or, at least, the churches - came to agree with the changes, a great many remain deeply unsettled by them or opposed to them.

Whilst trying to remain respectful toward secular authorities and people holding other moral perspectives, these people feel that the state has overstepped its proper sphere of influence and is fundamentally shifting the relationship between their faith and their government.

Historians and cultural anthropologists have long remarked on the close link between the Christian worldview and British culture.

They have not all agreed that Britain benefits from having an institutional church which is tied to the state. Yet most recognise that the Judeo-Christian narrative has, in many instances, been positively foundational in shaping the British mindset and the institutions of British society.

This idea seems to be embedded in the wider British consciousness. Yesterday, the Folio Society published the results of a new survey into the relative influence of various books on modern society. It suggested that Brits believe the Bible has more significance for the modern world than even Darwin's On the Origin of Species.

While the Prime Minister is talking about the need to tackle extremist narratives, he should remember that his most powerful weapon is a more positive and convincing narrative.

Encouraging a gradual shift away from - or perhaps, in time, an opposition to - a Christian worldview will leave the nation only with an ill-defined, largely unproven and ultra-liberal narrative for which other faith groups arguably have little or no respect and which inspires neither their loyalty or respect.