The Archbishop of Canterbury has challenged the idea that human rights and religious discourse are "intrinsically opposed" to one another, and has urged religious people to abandon the "preposterous" notion that "they have to win God's arguments for him".

Speaking on the place of faith in the public square, during the last in a series of Westminster Faith Debates on Tuesday, organised by Lancaster University in partnership with Theos, Dr Williams appealed for less panic among religious people who were engaged in debate. Refusing to try to "be God", and acknowledging that one might fail, was "a recognition of the majesty and supremacy of the God you believe in. . . I think he can look after himself!"

 Madeline Davies | Read this article in full at churchtimes.co.uk

Photograph: R. Martin Seddon