There are rumours that church attendances have increased since September 11th. The almost effortless ease the attack was made on the world's greatest financial centre, without detection from the world's best security services, has perhaps reminded us of the truly fragile nature of Western Democracy, and persuaded many to renew their faith in a higher power. The surprising realisation that fanatical terrorists may be capable of using weapons of mass destruction - biological, chemical and nuclear - seems to threaten our prosperity, scientific progress and civilisation itself.

In the long term, the terrorist onslsaught, driven by what seems to be a perverse religious fanaticism, is likely to undermine all religious faiths. The language used by the terrorists - intifadas, fatwas, jihads - comes from the dark and middle ages. It resembles curses and witchcraft and will, perhaps, feed the prejudices of those who say that, over the centuries, it is religion that has been the cause of most of the world's wars. This will be a great pity.

Religion is the glue which binds society together and gives a civilisation its values and distinctive characteristics. If we think of far eastern civilisation, the image of a Budhist pagoda springs to mind. The most obvious manifestation of Indian civilisation is its strange and mysterious temples. The most beautiful buildings in the Moslem world are the mosques, and Christian churches still dominate the landscape of Europe.

Christianity may have lost the importance it once had, but its influence and teachings still shape our lives - the idea, for example, that all people are equal in the sight of God and of the law, which is fundamental to western democracy.

The terrorists call America "the Great Satan", and accuse the West of degeneracy and ungodliness. One assumes that the accusation of degeneracy means that we are lovers of a peaceful and comfortable way of life and have not been brought up to face war, hardship or deprivation.

Today, one probably thinks of much of the Moslem world as backward, illiterate and impoverished, ruled by autocratic dictators and kings, who are more interested in reaping the profits of oil for themselves, than in passing on the benefits of this dark underground treasure to their people. Yet, while Western Europe was in the Dark Ages, and the only truly civilised Christian country was the Greek Byzantine Empire, the Moslem Ummayad and Abbassid Empires produced a brilliant, humane and tollerant civilisation, which gave the World Arabic numerals and Algebra. Without these, the scientific progress which now gives us our comfortable western lifestyle could never have been achieved. So, it is difficult to see how the terrorists can be considered to be true adherents of the Islamic faith, if they despise the comfort that comes from scientific discoveries, instead of seeking it for their own people.