Leading Article: Divine inspiration

It used to be said that the Labour Party was shaped less by Karl Marx than Methodism. No longer, if the annual survey of MPs' summer reading is a bellwether. This guide into the beliefs of our senators shows they don't have many - beliefs in God, that is.

How else to explain the top position among Labour MPs of Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion? Of course, the choice of this volume may simply reflect a kind of subliminal revolt against the ghost of Tony Blair who - even if he did not pray with George Bush - certainly advertised his godliness. It might therefore be seen, paradoxically, almost as a form of exorcism, a way of saying "Blair begone!"

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No doubt our former leader, bridging chasms in the Middle East, couldn't care less. But should it not make the Archbishop of Canterbury tremble a little for the future of a church that was "established" by act of parliament?

Some might find it rather exciting if disestablishmentarianism - one of the longest-sounding political causes in history - was to make a comeback. But it may not come to that, depending on the next election. Godly thoughts, after all, are far from dead on the other side of the benches.

If the Tories' favourite book was also Dawkins, the game would surely be up for the Church of England as far as established status was concerned. But while Labour MPs are imbibing atheism in their summer hideouts, their opposite numbers will be doing the opposite; their favourite summer reading - apparently - is William Hague's biography of William Wilberforce. Is either side telling the truth about what they intend to read this summer? God knows.