I was eleven or twelve, and we had been best mates for years, spending any free moment together – playing, talking, arguing – and like any childhood friends we were sure our friendship would last forever. So when the question of God was debated in class and we disagreed and argued, I didn’t think much of it, and when the bell rang, I ran straight out to play with him, like always, putting our differences behind. But he would neither speak to me nor look at me, the heretic, and the rest of my school days were never the same again.