Zac Goldsmith has pledged that his "number one" task if elected Mayor of London is to make the capital safe from terror. 

The Conservative candidate told Christian Today he is worried about the possibility of another attack.

He remembers clearly where he was on 7/7 - in hospital with a family member and had been up all night.

"That was the first time in my life where I've had a profound fear for this city. I've never felt anything like it before or since."

Speaking on Good Friday, just days after the Brussels bombings, he said: "It would be reckless and absurd to pretend that those threats aren't there. We know that in the last 12 months there are seven serious incidents that have been stopped by the security services to whom we are so indebted. If I am elected on May 5th, there are some big challenges for London but my number one duty and responsibility is to make sure that London is safe. And it's an awesome responsibility."

More needs to be done to make clear the difference between extremists who distort Islam, and the moderate majority.

"The reason religion is getting a bad press is because a number of people have so totally distorted and perverted one of the great religions," he said. "I do think we need to do more to create a clear separation between those people who are distorting Islam and the overwhelming majority of Muslims for whom that distortion is just not a reflection of reality at all. I think that distinction needs to be made so much clearer than it is.

"If we don't create that distinction you are going to see a continued rise in things like Islamophobia, and that is the last thing we want in a diverse city like London. We are also broadly speaking a very harmonious city. But you can't take it for granted. That could be shattered very easily."

He said the big society is alive and well. "One of its strongest expressions is in the Christian organisations across the capital. I see it in my constituency. Some of the best work is being done by Christian organisations."

He singled out the work with homeless people done by the Vineyard in Richmond town centre. The churches and Christian organisations made up a large part of the "big society" network, he said. "It is hard to imagine what London would be like without that network. The state would have an impossible task. I also think society would be relatively less kind, less friendly and less sociable place."

The biggest issue facing London is affordable housing. "It's true at all levels. You have people earning even quite decent incomes, above the London average, who have no prospect at all of getting onto the housing ladder." The bottom line was that 50,000 homes a year needed to be built to close the gap between supply and demand.

He was speaking after taking part in the annual Good Friday walk organised by the Methodist, Catholic and Anglican churches and at which money was raised for the Passage, a leading charity serving homeless people. He also visited the Salvation Army.

"London is a very prosperous and very wealthy city, one of the most successful cities in the world, probably the most important city in the world. It is offensive and wrong that there are so many people sleeping rough in London. It's just not something that sits easily with anyone."

He spoke about the refugee crisis.

Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged to take 20,000 refugees from camps in Syria. The Government is working with local authorities to fund private rented accommodation for the refugees. Local authorities are free to choose whether or not to take part.

The borough next to Goldsmith's Richmond Park constituency, Kingston, has pledged to take 50. Some boroughs have said "no".

Richmond Borough Council has not yet decided, but like all London boroughs has a long housing waiting list of its own.

Goldsmith said: "I don't want to make excuses for local authorities but just to put it in context, we have a housing list in London which is about 360,000 long. And every single borough is just in a permanent losing battle to find homes for those people. So that's the context in which we need to see them. I'm not going to wag my finger at individual local authorities. I recognise how difficult it is."

He said it was not about money but about finding the actual accommodation. "When they have these discussions with local authorities, people need to recognise just how difficult it is for them to do what they are doing. I want London, I want Britain, to be as accommodating as we possibly can. But I don't want to pretend that those other problems don't exist, because they do."

He also said David Cameron's commitment in the aid budget was something Britain can be proud of. "Only America has spent more money on helping people who have been displaced by this conflict."

His own faith was "mongrel". His family consists of people from Pakistan, Bolivia and central America and his own father was Jewish and his mother Christian. He was brought up in no particular faith but grew up identifying with his father's faith background. "I can't tell you that I'm a pious Christian or a practising Jew but I have enormous respect and time for all the different faiths."