Last weekend I was a panellist in a kind of ecclesiastical Questions and Answers hosted by Crinken Church. Unsurprisingly, the topic of God and the European constitution came up. Somebody wanted to know why Graeco-Roman civilisation and the Enlightenment merited a mention, whereas God or Christianity did not. I spoke about it at some length, writes Breda O'Brien.
What is included is a reference to Europe's "cultural, religious and humanist inheritance", which has given us our emphasis on the centrality of the human person. That is very important, but what would have been wrong with mentioning religion, not just because it is one source of humanist values, but because of the reality that Christianity shaped Europe in far more profound ways?
Or even just that faith in God, which would encompass much more than Christianity, is central to many Europeans?
However, one of the other panellists, Jacob Reynolds of the Irish Bible Institute, merely mused: "I wonder is God bothered by being left out of the EU constitution?"
It was a great answer, and one which I thought about this week when, in the latest draft of the constitution, the references to Graeco-Roman civilisation and the Enlightenment were dropped.
Presumably, it was better to lose these important influences than face the awful prospect of making explicit mention of faith.
Ironically, politicians who identified themselves as Christian - Adenauer, Schumann and de Gaspari - made some of the most significant contributions to European unity. The source of their motivation, which was not just humanist, not to mention some 2,000 years of history, was obviously deemed not worthy of reference.
It's a dangerous business, presuming to know whether God is bothered or not. Yet I expect it is safe to assume that God is not being kept awake at night by this debate.
The current issue of Time magazine has some fun with the exclusion, not only of God, but also of Christianity from the EU constitution. The cover features a stained-glass window depicting the scene where Jesus rebukes the disciples, and tells them to let the little children come to him. Jesus has been carefully cut out, leaving only a white silhouette.
Inside, the news is rather better for God, though not perhaps for churches. There is a resurgence of belief among the young. Including all the age groups, more than two-thirds of Europeans believe in God, even if they are sceptical about churches and attend them more rarely.
According to a sociologist, Grace Davie, this has led to "a funny mixture" where there is still "a religious sensibility, but a loss of the tradition and the knowledge base".
Obviously two-thirds of Europeans does not constitute a majority for the voices which prevailed in the framing of the draft EU constitution, who seem to want to hasten the loss of the tradition and the knowledge base even more.
It should be remembered, by the way, that what was suggested for the Preamble of the European constitution was nothing like what is currently in Bunreacht na hEireann. The preamble to our Constitution invokes the "Most Holy Trinity, from whom is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions both of men and States must be referred".
The suggestion from the European People's Party, the largest political grouping in the European Parliament, was to include something very similar to what is in the Polish constitution.
This proposed wording read "The Union's values include the values of those who believe in God as the source of truth, justice, good and beauty as well as of those who do not share such a belief but respect these universal values arising from other sources." Another proposal was even more modest, containing a reference to our spiritual heritage.
If Jacob Reynolds is right, and the Almighty is not bothered, does that mean that we should not be bothered either?
On one level, belief has traditionally flourished where there has been opposition, so perhaps those who wish to see a religious revival should actively campaign for an exclusion of all religious references. Maybe they should even hope for a bit of overt persecution, such as being told that they could not have schools with a Muslim, Jewish or Christian ethos.
Such comments would be facile if it had not taken hard work on the part of some politicians, including Ireland's representative in the inner circle of those who framed the constitution, John Bruton, to ensure that there would be an article which would protect the right to maintain a religious ethos.
The real significance of the exclusion of a reference to God is not just that it constitutes a dismissal of millions of people for whom faith is an important part of their lives. The President of Poland, Aleksander Kwasniewski, was sharp in his criticism of the absence of religious references, in favour of what he called the "pet ideologies of the left".
He is an atheist, and an ardent Europhile, who campaigned vigorously so that his country would vote for entry in the EU. Yet he criticised the proposed preamble, presumably because he is aware that the entity to which his country has just coupled its future can only succeed if it can deal with difference and diversity in a way which includes rather than excludes.
If religious difference is dealt with in this way, what does it say for the way in which the EU will deal with potentially even more divisive issues?
It is ironic that this constitution started life as an attempt to simplify the treaties. It was meant to be about bringing the decision-making process closer to the people, so that ordinary people would identify more with the EU. It has mushroomed into something much more complex, and it is doubtful if it has achieved those aims.
There is already deep suspicion of governments, which at least can be removed at the next election. There is even more scepticism about a Union that operates in a way which is unintelligible to most Europeans, and which still will not be directly answerable to any electorate.
The proposed references to God and belief were a test of how representative and inclusive the EU might be. Instead, the prevailing voices have demonstrated how bigoted and intolerant they really are.