Odds on that God exists, says scientist; Stewart Maclean, Catherine Bolsover and Polly Curtis; The Guardian, Monday March 8, 2004

A scientist has calculated that there is a 67% chance that God exists. Dr Stephen Unwin has used a 200-year-old formula to calculate the probability of the existence of an omnipotent being. Bayes' Theory is usually used to work out the likelihood of events, such as nuclear power failure, by balancing the various factors that could affect a situation.

The Manchester University graduate, who now works as a risk assessor in Ohio, said the theory starts from the assumption that God has a 50/50 chance of existing, and then factors in the evidence both for and against the notion of a higher being.

The unusual workings - which even take into account the existence of miracles - include a spreadsheet of the data used so that anyone can make the calculation themselves should they doubt its validity.

Dr Unwin said he was interested in bridging the gap between science and religion. He argues that rather than being a theological issue, the question of God's existence is simply a matter of statistics.