A grand contest between Oxford's undisputed champions of atheism and Christianity, Professor Richard Dawkins, and Archbishop Rowan Williams!

Both men have a fearsome reputation for beating the crap out of thin air. In the normal atheist v believer matches, the two contestants take position back to back, then punch the imaginary enemies in front of them.

In boxing matches, the duty of the referee is to keep the fighters from gouging and biting; but when you get a theologian and a scientist in the ring together, the referee's job is get them to try to hit each other and not flail at the air.

So the ref this time was Sir Anthony Kenny, who had fought this battle inside himself. He started as a Roman Catholic priest and then decided that he was really a philosopher, and an agnostic about the existence of God. He still had the footwork of a real pro. "I come here as the representative of ignorance," he said, and got an Oxonian laugh for this very Oxonian joke.

With such a formidable referee there was some chance that the contestants might land some blows on each other, and the Sheldonian theatre in Oxford was packed for this intellectual bloodsport. They would be disappointed, despite all Kenny's best efforts.

Dawkins played the passionate and inspiring preacher perfectly. He came out of his corner with the announcement that he had been singing a hymn in the shower that morning. "You will all recognise it," he said, which was a very Oxonian touch, for few people without a public school education would have done so. "It is a thing most wonderful, almost too wonderful to be," he quoted.

Then he quoted a poem by the biologist Julian Huxley and launched into his credal statement: "The laws of physics have conspired to make the collisions of atoms produce plants, kangaroos, insects, and us."

"Darwin", he said, "gives courage to the rest of science that we shall end up understanding literally everything, springing from almost nothing – a thought extremely hard to comprehend and believe."

Against this mystery and power, Williams played the part of the humble seeker after truth, looking always for fresh evidence.

"A soul is something that does not cease with death," said the archbishop. "What it is, I have no idea. A number of images, but no idea." More research is clearly needed here.

Dawkins was baffled by this attitude: "Why you don't see the extraordinary beauty of the idea that we can explain the world, the universe, life, how it started from nothing? That is such a staggeringly elegant and beautiful thing. Why do you want to clutter up your world view with something so messy as a god?"

" I am not thinking of God as something extra that must be shoehorned in," Williams replied, stepping back from this slash with Occam's razor.

"When I want to solve problems of 21st century science I use the methods of 21st century science. When I want to understand my place in the universe, I reserve the right to go back to Genesis."

Talking of the simplicity of God, Kenny brought out his own razor: "We must distinguish between complexity of structure and complexity of function. My electric razor is much more complex machine than a cut-throat razor, but it only has one function. A cut-throat razor is much simpler, but it has a more complex function, because you can use it to shave – or to cut a throat with!"

But at this mention of real violence, both men recoiled. "You can see I know nothing of razors," said Williams.

No individual or institution in Britain can possibly be ignorant of the incessant sabre rattling and beating of drums of war against Iran and its people, which features in the British media now. Yet again, the Middle East is experiencing intransigence and confrontation from a West hell bent on supporting a war, which regrettably includes the Queen’s Monarchical Britain. It is this information that urges me to question the Church of England hierarchy and its response to this highly dangerous state of affairs.

Without doubt, any military attack against Iran will result in collateral damage – a convenient sanitised term frequently used by the West’s warmongers to disguise civilian carnage, which, as always will involve great numbers of children in addition to adults. An Israeli or Western bomb does not differentiate between Iran’s military and its innocent civilian population.

The indiscriminate maiming and slaughter of great numbers of Iranian children will create a humanitarian disaster, leaving many orphans in its destructive wake, a concern that directs millions of us to ask the peace loving Church of England Hierarchy this question.

“If you have not already done so, will you soon, before it is too late, be publicly condemning, via all the media channels available, the distinct probability of an atrocious, mad and inhumane act, the bombing of Iran, and the unavoidable blood bath, death and grief that will follow?”

On the other hand, a clear majority in England do NOT expect the Church of England’s hierarchy and its influential members in the Queen’s House-of-Lords to remain silent.

Only the passing of time and the conscience of the Church of England hierarchy will reveal the answer to that question, but the Church, like the rest of the country is fearfully aware that the clocks of war are ticking relentlessly towards a blood bath in Iran that a Church in pursuit of peace and compassion should seek to prevent.

William Gladys February 2012.

Is it time  that you had a 'spiritual M.O.T. check'? We have a specially designed section on our site, where you can have a really good look at yourself and your current walk with God.

You will be guided through eight areas of your spiritual life. In each you simply indicate where you're at now and where you'd like to be. You'll be provided with points for reflection along the way to help you - these 'faith snippets' will be varied so that every visit to 'Faithcheck' will be, we hope, a fresh experience. At the end you'll be gently guided where appropriate and also provided with resources to help you in your walk with God, wiith PDFs you can download.

Why not try it now click here

Well after last year when we saw, economies of many nations plummeted; kings dethroned, dictators toppled, natural catastrophe raged and wild fire consumed nations, immoralities increased, violent uprisings and wars soared, poverty increased and peace in the world suffered a great loss.

So as phrases like “you can Bank on it”, have lost their meaning, we enter a new year with the expectation that anything could and can happen. As a Christian, this does not worry me because we are told that the events of last year are prelude to the end times, and we must be ready for more to come! Therefore, whatever happens to us personally, we need to keep in mind that the world we live in is going to change, but God never does and is in control even though we may feel out of control.

The Euro may fail this year providing further destabilisation to the countries involved, and Israel may be at the centre of a new war with its neighbours, all of which are predicted in Daniel and Matthew. As the world events are very uncertain and we cannot depend on our jobs, positions, pensions, etc, all of which a few years ago were certainties, we need to invest in our relationship with Jesus, who if we let Him, will guide us, speak to us, empower us, work through us and bless us in many different ways this year.

The only Muslim Cabinet minister has said Britain should become more Christian. Writing in The Telegraph, Baroness Warsi suggested it was ok for Christians to be proud of their religion and that having a strong faith identify could help people to better understand people of other faiths. “We need to create a country where people don’t feel like they have to leave religion at the door. That means being proud of Christianity, not downgrading it,” she said. “It means encouraging people to say that their faith inspires what they do. It means supporting religious charities in delivering public services in schools, hospices and rehabilitation.”

Lady Warsi’s message will be assuring to many Christians who have felt under increasing pressure in recent years to keep their faith private, while others have perceived a tendency towards respect for Muslims and intolerance towards Christians. Lady Warsi suggested that Christians should not feel they have to water down their faith. It would be a “mistake to assume that you compromise your identity the more you try to understand others”, she said. “The stronger your understanding of your neighbour, the stronger your own religious identity becomes. “For many years, I have been saying that the stronger we are as a Christian nation, the more understanding we will be of other faiths.

“It is why the Pope’s visit was so important for our country. And it is why I am proud that this year, for the first time, the Prime Minister held an Easter reception in Downing.” Instead of a “conflict of loyalty” between different faiths, Lady Warsi spoke of her desire to see people of faith engage in dialogue with one another to challenge the “assumption that some people of some faiths can be trusted while others cannot”. She said: “Take it from me: there is nothing incompatible about a world of many religions and a world of strong, vibrant nation states.”

Will Europe will forgive the UK for rejecting the treaty? The French and Germans are angry with David Cameron for now. However, European leaders have a long history of disagreements that are sorted out in the end. Britain is not part of the single currency, so there is no great practical difficulty in deciding not to integrate further. It is also still part of the European Union, so if Brussels officials are involved, then the UK will still expect to be included in discussions. There is also an economic argument that Britain and the rest of Europe need each other. They are major trading partners, so neither side has much to gain from isolation. Three million British jobs depend on European trade, which accounts for around 40 per cent of all exports and imports. At a time when most European countries are struggling, they need all the cross-border trade they can get.

But is there a risk that France and Germany will now make life difficult for the UK?
One of the worst case scenarios is years of political sniping between the UK, France and Germany. Britain may simply find itself unpopular for a while and the butt of jokes from its European neighbours. But a more serious consequence could be if the UK finds itself without a place at the negotiating table when the other countries want to discuss important economic and foreign policy issues. The UK’s isolated position means there could well be arguments in the future over whether it is allowed to take part in discussions. There could also be an increase in protectionism — where countries or a bloc make it difficult to export goods or labour over borders.

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