Meeting the Archbishop

I enjoyed reading Victoria Coren's article in the Guardian called 'As I didn't say to the archbishop'. Here is a bit of it but do read the whole thing.

"I interviewed the comedian Miranda Hart recently. She told me she believes in God but was nervous of being quoted on it.

"It's scary to say you're pro-God," she said. "Those clever atheists are terrifying."

"Oh, nonsense," I said. "Let them tell you it's stupid to believe in something you can't explain. Then ask them how an iPad works."

Atheism itself is fine; good luck if that's what you sincerely (don't) believe. But the proselytising, fundamentalist new atheist movement sets itself up as more "logical" than faith, which is ridiculous. Given the incomprehensible scale of the creator we'd be talking about, the only "logical" position is agnosticism.

So why do the proselytisers fight so hard to be right? In place of the comfort which faith can provide in the face of death, grief or loneliness, they offer… nothing. They are suspiciously eager to snatch away the consolations of their fellow men."

Speaking of Miranda Hart, the women in our church all seem to be watching Miranda while the men on the other hand favour the Trip (v. v. funny, strangely dark and a very rude word in episode 4- you have been warned). Episode 1 reminded me of a wonderful stay I had fly-fishing at the Inn at Whitewell.