Today, I’m informed, is Eid, the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but I don’t think it would really be appropriate for me to wish anyone Eid Mubarak. It’s not that I have anything against Islam in particular, and I certainly feel muslims have as much right to live in the UK as anyone else. It’s just that, as a committed atheist who has written so much about religion being such an oppressive, regressive force, it would be rather hypocritical to say those thoughts apply to some religions and not others. I deliberately did not wish anyone happy Christmas or Easter this year, my feelings about religion have grown so strong; it would be wrong for me to suddenly say ‘Eid Mubarak’, just because I want to appear tolerant and multicultural. At the same time I don’t want to seem intolerant or discriminatory, or say that I don’t hope our Muslim friends and neighbours enjoy the day. Of course everyone has every right to celebrate any religious festival they wish, as long as I have a right to call it an outdated, repressive, ultimately divisive form of social control.