When it was time for the prayers his dad would say: “Can we get through the olly-wolly-polly and get on with the food?

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think of yourself with sober judgment, according to the measure of faith God has given you. Christianity is a faith in the tangible facts as they are presented in this unique and historical person. Hesiod describes Eros as the primordial being that is the driving force behind the creation of the universe once all beings emerged from Chaos.But even its target audience of atheists will find it insubstantial, for Baddiel has made as little effort to understand them as he has the ­God-botherers (in a recent interview, he admitted that he hasn’t “really read Voltaire”). In doing so he raises many of the same questions that I ask of the Church (especially in the west) that has simply misunderstood and misapplied Christianity in favour of an individually defined syncretistic world view, that as Baddiel concedes is clearly not irreligious. It is believed he is described as her son in later works because he is consistently mentioned as accompanying Aphrodite. In his new book The God Desire he seems to be trying to present himself as a more nuanced sort of atheist, whose Judaism allows him to understand the appeal of religion, even as he decides that he is too intellectually honest to believe. None of the new atheists, he points out, “come from an ethnic minority background with a religious component”.

On reading it, he says, Stoppard told him, “I’m really enjoying your conversation with yourself”, which is on-brand for Baddiel (and a bit on-brand for the courteous, sphinx-like Stoppard). He is much better read on the subject but thankfully admits that, like me, the more he reads the less he understands. Two new films from the BBC and Humanists UK, featuring Chris Packham and Dr Alice Roberts, seek to explain the origin of our planet from a scientific, secular point of view. He simply dismisses it, saying: “Those who believe in God should not use logical arguments to support that belief because God exists beyond logic and reason.It’s the sheer ubiquity of God-belief (whether we are drawn to “the Queen” or “Doctor Who”) that seems to convince him it is the product of emotional need, a “babyish” yearning for “God the Parent” who provides an afterlife that offers an alternative to the “nothingness” of the grave.

Plato makes Eros the son of Poros, or Plenty, and Penia, Poverty, the pair conceived Eros on Aphrodite’s birthday. This is a begrudging, melancholic atheism in which punches are pulled, unlike the militant approach of the New Atheists. Eventually, Dionysus makes Aura drunk and the story of Aura and Dionysus ends in a similar manner to that of Nicaea and the god. The combination of Freddie’s vulnerability and Dodd’s use of others’ admiration for him as a way of filling the hole at the centre of his soul makes the two men perfect for one another. They also give you access to Baddiel’s clearly razor-sharp and rigorous mind, a mind which allows him to articulate everyday sentiments with uncommon clarity.In my natural state I would much prefer to follow my hearts desires, fill my boots and then pass into nothingness. According to Hesiod, Eros is the ‘fairest among the gods,’ and was the fourth god to emerge fully formed at the beginning of the world after Gaia and Tartarus.