Fr Leon Pereira laments that our armed forces face hostility from some people in this country

I was in a train, wearing my habit, looking like a brown Klu Klux Klansman, and attracting lots of stares. Stares, I've discovered from being at the receiving end often enough, come in two varieties. There's the hastily snuck peek, when your back is turned or you're looking out the window. And then there's the straightforward, unashamed what-the-heck-is-that stare.

Some people are deeply disturbed by my religious garb. I have a theory they believe you can read their thoughts or look into their souls. (I'll let you in on a secret: we can). So I sometimes gaze back and smile, which unnerves them. But the friendlier stares are the most fruitful. Here is curiosity at its best – more like studiositas, the healthy and ordered desire to know.

And so, on that day, I found myself sitting opposite a soldier, who was pleased that for once his uniform was not the main object of attention. This soldier had just finished a six-month stint in Afghanistan. Among many other things, we talked about uniforms. Most people ask me, "How do you keep it so clean?" just as they used to ask my former sub-prior Fr Euan, "How do you keep it so dirty?" But this was a deeper conversation.

The uniform meant a great deal to this young soldier, and quite rightly so. He is, after all, defending our realm, and fighting for Queen and country. The fact that he has been deployed in a questionable and lamentable war does not detract from this higher truth: that he is a hero. And so I was appalled to learn that he had sometimes been advised not to wear his uniform in public "for fear of offending Muslims". I'm sure most Muslims are fed up with this kind of thing. All this nonsense about not having Nativity Plays, or calling Christmas by some nincompoop euphemism (Winterval? Winterfest? Yule Holiday?) "for fear of offending Muslims". It's scapegoating Muslims for an idiotic liberal agenda. Why would Muslims dislike the uniform that protects them from a host of evils, including al-Qaeda and the Taliban?

The soldier added that he had also had abuse from white people when he was in uniform. I am ashamed such things should ever happen here. I wish we appreciated our soldiers more, like the North Americans, and saw them clearly as heroes. In fact, if you see a soldier in uniform, shake their hand, and if they're not on duty, buy them a drink. Don't stare. Say "thank you". Let's appreciate them!

Fr Leon Pereira, OP, is the Prior of Holy Cross Priory in Leicester.