Manchester Cathedral Religious Poetry competition

James Harpur won it in 2011.

“Poetry felt like a mission, the 
means by which I was going to penetrate the eschatology of life, or at
least come to terms with my own relationship with the great themes of 
existence. In that sense writing for me was, and is, a sacred activity,
 almost like meditation and prayer. “

Comment on his website, italics mine.    http://www.jamesharpur.com/

“every poet has to come to terms
 with Christianity in some way. Like it or not, Christianity has shaped our
 western culture – it’s in our thought, books, buildings, paintings, music,
languages, in the air we breathe. Being an atheist or Buddhist or whatever 
is fine, but do we not remain in the west, nevertheless, Christian atheists 
and Christian Buddhists?”