Bill Linnane: As a devout atheist it’s odd that my teenage son is going to Mass

Bill Linnane: As a devout atheist it’s odd that my teenage son is going to Mass – but I’m happy for him

It’s not just the performative social-media stuff – he’s doing the hard yards like going to church

Young people are turning to religion partly as a social-media fuelled movement. Photo: Picture posed/Getty

I enjoy a good church. I am known in the family for my sudden detours on outings if I spot an interesting or unusual church on the side of the road, and abandoning the family in a car park to have a wander around the graveyard or disappear inside the church for half an hour.

My wife and children think I am having some sort of breakdown, given that I am devoutly atheist, but even someone as potentially doomed as me can just appreciate the silence and peace of a nice, empty church.