But entering the Cathedral shop, I experienced a feeling of mild sadness tinged with a lack of surprise.

I had hoped for Christian-themed products, ones with a certain reverence, a recognition of whose house, indeed Cathedral, it is. Instead there was Henderson’s Relish in the colours of our local football teams, and all manner of what could be called secular Christ merch.

Tucked in a corner I did locate a couple of advent candles. One had snowmen on, a common theme, typifying the ethnic cleansing of Christ from Christmas.

The other had the Nativity, represented by cartoons, irreverent and dumbed down, ignorant and void. There was a notable absence of Jesus. With their permission I offered some gentle feedback to the lady serving, to which she replied, somewhat apologetically, that it was half for Chrsitians, and half for tourists. "We have to compromise, you see.”

I did see, and as I held up a snowglobe with a plastic stegosaurus inside, giving it a slight agitation, I began to consider the nature, and concept, of compromise.

I thought about earthly businesses, and how they do, and do not, compromise.

I remember Samsung recalling billions of pounds worth of phones because they were a potential fire hazard, zero compromise on safety and brand trust.

Would The Body Shop compromise on just a little bit of animal testing on its products?

Would the health food shop have a cheeky aisle of doughnuts and perhaps some cigarettes behind the counter?

Some businesses do compromise, selling what’s good enough to sell rather than excellent or perfect or right.

I remember sending back a steak from a restaurant in town, on the menu it said ribeye, but this was rump. They very quietly gave the entire meal for free, perhaps as long as I didn’t draw attention from the other dozen diners tucking into their compromised meat.

Compromise can be a necessity, it can be a good thing, to reach agreements between parties in dispute. Peace without compromise is hard. Politics without compromise is authoritarian and harsh.

Compromise can be the right thing, a meeting in the middle ground. But compromise can also be wrong.

Still musing on this, I read the next day that for the first time the number of people claiming to be Christian has fallen below 50 per cent on the national census. This made me smile.

I’d be surprised if the true number of actual Christians was above five per cent in fact.

But clearly when required to pick a side, at least on worthless paper, many choose to identify as what they are self evidently not.

It reminds me of lads being processed at the prison reception. Name, date of birth, religion? ‘Church of England. Do I get Sunday egg?’

If a phone manufacturer won’t compromise, if a chain of shops selling soaps won’t compromise, what does it say of the Church, and their compromised situation?

Bird Lovegod is MD of EthicalMuch

Why failing to compromise can be a good thing in business: Bird Lovegod