If only it was true, Michael, if only! But you and I both know full well that no one has 100% self-control, no one has 100% self-determination. We are — whether we admit it or not — subject to our environment, subject to chemical imbalances in our biological make up, subject to the whims of those around us, subject to so many other things.

Yes, we may well have more control than we often think. But 100%? Dream on.

Quite so. Rather like Dawkins and his flying teapot, really. I took the lid off the teapot and it was empty. As I said, adds to life's entertainment value.

You talk about the Bible as if it were a single coherent work, Dave: it isn't. But surely you know that? The Bible is a record of one ethnic group's emerging concept of God, written by scores of different writers over several thousand years, all wrestling to make sense of their perceptions of God in an increasingly chaotic world.

Christianity is no more defined by the Bible than evolution is defined by the Origin of Species. The biblical writers were no more infallible in their ideas about God than Darwin was about genetics. We move on: we evolve. That's the nature of life; and the evolution of faith and religion is as much a part of humanity's development as any other.

Perhaps we'll all end up as atheists; perhaps we'll all end up following Jesus; perhaps we'll end up somewhere else entirely. Personally I think Jesus makes more sense of life than anyone else I've come across, but surely the important thing right now is that we respect one another rather than descend into either religious or anti-religious fundamentalism and vitriol. Seems to me that what we believe only matters in so far as it affects the way we behave; but as madpriest would say, "Of course, I could be wrong" — and I am, undoubtedly, insane.

Why not indeed? Should be interesting to find out how a God who doesn't exist speaks ;)

Thanks Michael - my apologies: hadn't realised that CBE is a consumer show; that does, of course, colour things rather differently. Perhaps this is the way we need to be going, which the CRE merger/takeover makes feasible...

Thanks for this and your twitter updates on #CBE - have been following with interest. Wondering what your thoughts are on the way things are going with the change of ownership and venue for the UK's CBE-equivalent, CBC (Christian Booksellers Convention), please? Will Thomas Nelson be there and if not, why not? More info at www.cbcltd.co.uk.