Tobias Jones got a healthy spanking from Guardian readers for his ludicrous little rant accusing secularists of fundamentalism. My own personal criticism is that he's intellectually lazy, using atheism and secularism interchangeably.

Secularists believe church and state should be separate. That decisions should be made based on reason, not the interpretation of a 2,000 year old novel. To varying degrees of intensity, secularists believe religion is bad. This is a defensible position which can be debated - putting argument and counter-argument for the benefits and harm religion has brought to humanity.

For a secularist the existence of God should be fairly inconsequential. Don't teach children fairy tales, and call it science. Don't expect the majority of us to live by the rules of some 2,000 year old novel. Don't encourage the more dim-witted of your flock that flying aeroplanes into buildings is a fast-track to paradise. Apart from that, if you want to believe in God, Father Christmas, or the Tooth Fairy it's entirely up to you.

Conversely, we have the atheists (currently championed by the depressingly pompous Richard Dawkins), trying to disprove the existence of God. If there is a more pointless exercise, I've yet to encounter it. Belief in God is a faith based position which, by definition cannot be proved or disproved. Dawkins, trapped by the ego of his intellect, remains forever stalled in a philosophical cul-de-sac. In fact, the only people dafter than Dawkins are those trying to argue against him, and 'prove' God exists.