""Okay, Don. That's interesting. Can you elaborate a bit on being a Deist?""

Yes LH, I think so.

I look around me at the wonders of what I can see of the Universe, and I find it difficult to believe that it was created purely randomly, or that it was created just for the inhabitants of one speck of matter in the vast spread of stars.

So OK, some entity unknown (call it God, for convenience) designed the whole shebang for a purpose unknown to any but itself.

Thus far I'm sort of tending toward starry Pete's POV!

BUT, nothing that I have seen, heard, or been taught has come close to convincing me that any religious organisation knows more than I do about that unknowable purpose.

Science, on the other hand, has convinced me of certain natural processes and scientific facts which are undeniable within the limits of current knowledge.

My conclusion?

Science has shown that there is no specific need for, or indication of, the entity in which I believe.

Nonetheless, there is no evidence that would suggest that this entity doesn't exist.

Until I see such evidence, I can continue to believe as I choose and if I am deluding mysellf it is by my own choice, not by a system set up to control my beliefs, which is how I see the Catholic Church based, I emphasise, upon physical experience.

What I cannot embrace is the denial of scientific knowledge (Young Earth Creationism), or the concept of the many times translated and re-interpreted bible as the literal and inerrant word of God.

I'm not sure that I have explained my position particularly well, but the bottom line is this.

I can talk to God when and where I choose without the trappings and fripperies, the rites and rituals, or the bias and prejudice of mortal men who know no more about him than I do.

Don T.