Ake, perhaps the "basic beliefs" of a religion are not things like a geographic heaven or hell to which one goes in an afterlife, nor the gynecological and obstetric details of the conception and birth of Jesus, mor even the concept of a personified "father figure" as God. Perhaps, by calling these things into question, some religious people, including some members of the clergy, are peeling away another layer of the onion and getting closer to the real basic beliefs.

Theology, contrary to popular belief, does not provide a lot of pat answers. It asks questions.

Don Firth