When the government raises big questions about our national values, one has a choice: to see it as an opportunity to say something constructive, to deepen the debate. Or one could respond like a cynical intern at the Guardian, saying, in effect: how dare they try to sound all high and mighty? Where’s some holes we can pick?

The Church of England is unfortunately inclined to the latter course, with the archbishops issuing a statement raising concerns that Muslims might be targeted by a redefinition of extremism.

What Michael Gove announced was hardly earth-shattering

What the communities secretary Michael Gove announced was hardly earth-shattering. He gave a new but not very new definition of extremism as an ideology ‘that aims to negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others; or undermine, overturn or replace the UK’s system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights’.

In a joint statement, Justin Welby and the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell said labelling a multifaceted problem as hateful extremism may ‘vilify the wrong people and risk yet more division’:

‘The new definition being proposed not only inadvertently threatens freedom of speech, but also the right to worship and peaceful protest – things that have been hard won and form the fabric of a civilised society.’

This response was a mistake. One should either ignore something so anodyne as Gove’s definition, or use it as an opportunity to add some thoughts of one’s own. The archbishops should have said something like this:

‘We agree that extremism is on the increase and that new vigilance is needed. We agree that any ideology, religious or not, must be carefully scrutinised. If it rejects liberal democracy, it can expect to be shut out from the public square, treated as dangerous. Thankfully the vast majority of British Christians, Jews, Muslims and Hindus are fully signed up to this principle. The Church of England is proud of its role in fostering liberal democracy: it sees itself as the established Church of a liberal state, which means that the promotion of liberal values is central to its purpose.’