I took part in an Alpha course meeting last night (do you know what I'm talking about?) which illustrated very well I think the need to develop some spiritual 'common ground' between believers and non-believers and then learn how to live there. It was one of those situations where the believers wanted to be reassured and the cantankerous non-believer (an Australian who was an adherent of some obscure eastern sect that believed, among other things, that all religions are equally viable routes to God) wanted to know why Christians were so damn smug. We did our best to hold a civilized conversation but it was across a huge gulf. The questions and answers simply weren't connecting. Alpha has a lot going for it: it goes a long way towards providing a natural and neutral environment to explore the meaning of faith, but often it only serves to highlight the fact that neither Christians nor non-Christians know how to behave when they get there.