I don't regard Dawkins as a threat at all. I think he regards religion as some kind of threat, but I don't regard him as a threat. I regard him as an annoying man with a very limited and paranoid viewpoint of divinity, but certainly no threat to anyone of faith.

Well he certainly appears to put the fear of God into a certain kind of believer. Why else all the demonisation? Why not just laugh indulgently and forget him? I think you do not speak for many believers.

"You say there is a God. He says there probably isn't."

Well, I think there probably is, but I can't state it with absolute certainty, because I haven't met God in an undeniable way that I can totally confirm through direct experience. I just think God is very probable.

It would be a healthy thing if more believers were like you and publicly declared their doubt. I suppose that wouldn't go down especially well coming from the pulpit or in a Catholic classroom. Inconvenient... After all, you don't have any evidence, do you? When you say that something is probably the case for which you have no evidence, you might have to conclude that your rationality has taken a day's holiday and that Mr Delusion is waving at you through the window.

And most religions speak of God with certainty. You do not pray "Our Father, who quite possibly art in heaven...", do you now? All major religions are full of stuff that. You might say it's all harmless ritual but it happens so much that it must be inculcating a strong message of certainty in believers. There's no escaping this. If you declare that a mere possibility (or,in my view, in this case, an utter improbability) is true, you are not being truthful. That's fine for yourself, though disappointing, but, in my view, definitely not fine if you are propagating it to someone else. Children especially, though not exclusively.   

Therefore, I am not the extremist you would have me be, because the only thing I base absolute certainty on is my own direct experience.

Hmm. Careful with that one.

"The charlatan Dylan only ever wrote one good song, and your quoted one ain't it. (Have I covered everything?)"

No, Steve, you haven't covered everything. I predict we'll be talking yet for a long time, and uncover lots more. Now...I have long known that it's hopeless to convince people who don't relate to Dylan's material of its great worth, so why would I try to convince you? I think he's the finest songwriter of the 20th century. You don't. Nothing further that we can say is going to change that.

Even Dylan himself thought he was just a pop singer. That's getting close to accurate, though one might demur at "singer". One good song and a vast amount of obscurantist dross. One good song. Tell, me - when I say that to you, how does it feel? How does it feeeeel?

"There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life!"

There ya go. One conditional assertion and one admonishment. Better than a whole bible-load of theology any day!

"(I'd rather believe a London bus than a load of dodgy old desert scrolls any day!)."

I'm interested in any ancient records and ideas from any culture, whether they are Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Taoist, Islamic, Hindu, Mayan, African, Celtic, Roman, Greek, whatever...and they all had ideas about the Divine, and those ideas all form part of the great picture of Life itself, and Life interests me, because I'm part of it, and it's sacred. It's not that it worries me, Steve, it's that it fascinates me.

Me too. But I part company with anyone who starts to claim that they were divinely-inspired or similar hooey.

Regarding my statement that the female and the male are equal to me, Steve, don't be disingenuous in responding that they're not because they're different! Good heavens, man, EVERYONE knows perfectly well that they're different, so it should be bloody obvious that my statement of equality did not mean "the same in their specific nature and definition". What I meant was that they are of equal value, of equal importance, should have equal rights and respect, and that they are equally valuable partners in the drama of life. The fact that they are different from one another is quite handy, and it's why they make such good partners.

As you well know.

Of course! I was merely trying to get you to focus!