In answer to some of those who commented yesterday, there were not just Christians, Muslims and Jews represented but people of many more faiths - and none. Lord Harrison of the all-party parliamentary group on humanism and the British Humanist Association spoke up in favour of including humanism in consultative bodies.
It also wasn't, as some have suggested, simply a case of representatives of different faiths all agreeing with each other and demanding more of a say over government policy.
The tone was very productive and cooperative, but let's not forget that different religious groups do see many issues differently and maintain a dialogue based on recognising and accepting differences as well as shared interests. And some are also very clear about maintaining a healthy distance from governments.
I was interested to hear Grace Davie, a noted scholar of the sociology of religion, point out that while Europe has secularised (and expected the rest of the world to follow) in fact the rest of the world is marked by the sustained vitality of religious belief.
As an example of the former, one speaker mentioned that of the 27 EU member states only five have references to God in their constitutions. It convinces me that the European perspective is a useful one to add to the British perspective.
We also addressed the issue that some of you raised - the relationship between individual faith and organised religion.
We had clear agreement that these are not one and the same thing and that we need to bear in mind the complexity of the different ways people express their faith and the wide differences of opinion within different faiths.
I was heartened to hear expressions of support for British Muslims from Jewish and Christian faith leaders who are concerned at the way in which fringe views are sometimes presented as the mainstream.
Jewish leaders present made clear that their own experience of antisemitism made them deeply opposed to Islamophobia, and Dr Elaine Storkey of Tearfund expressed her frustration at the media's preference for extreme viewpoints (she described being told by the producer of a programme: "Sorry, we can't use you ... Your views are far too reasonable").
One contributor said: "We need to speak with one voice against religious parody" - and I can't put it better than that.
Participants said they wanted the EU to stand up against religious persecution worldwide - it's something I know the EU does, but perhaps we do need to be more vocal about it.
~ From: Jim Murphy responds to your comments ~
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