AMONG people who predict that some deep fault line is emerging between Islam and the West, there is often confusion over who is pitted against whom. On one side, presumably, are the Muslim faith and its adherents. And on the other? Some say Christianity and its cultural and moral legacy, which may linger even where specific beliefs have evaporated. Others would say the counterpoint to Islam was liberal, secular humanism—which might just be compatible with Christianity, or other faiths, as long as they are not very keenly practised. If the second view is right, what creates tensions between Muslims and the West is not Christian teachings, or different ideas about the nature of God, but the lack of any religion in the public or private lives of many Westerners.

Some useful raw material for this discussion is provided by research published this week by Ipsos MORI, the global polling organisation, and the Tony Blair Faith Foundation (a body that reflects the ex-prime minister's belief that religion can promote peace and development). As you might expect, the vast (94%) majority of respondents in the three mainly Muslim countries studied (Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Indonesia) said religion was important in their lives, whereas, among self-described Christians in 19 countries, only 66% said likewise. But among the 65% of Americans who called themselves Christian, some 86% deemed faith important, whereas among Christians in France and Sweden, the figures were 36% and 42%.

In the three Islamic countries, 61% of Muslims are inclined to the view that “my faith is the only true path to salvation, liberation or paradise”, whereas only 19% of Christians were similarly confident. The pollsters probed a little further by investigating whether, among respondents who saw their faith as the “ultimate truth”, people who did not share that belief could still be deemed to have some hope of salvation. That formula found favour among the same proportion (22%) of Christians as of Muslims (and incidentally, 29% of Hindus). It may of course be that Muslims found the formula too sloppily generous to others whereas Christians deemed it insufficiently so. As for Mr Blair, he found in the poll results “much to encourage the view that people can learn to respect those of another faith.” From somebody who is committed to optimism in these matters, that is a cautious statement of hope.