I haven't really got a concept of God at all, actually. All I'm doing is responding to the most basic, and, to my mind, the most mind-numbing and damaging concept of a God, that he is a supernatural being who is the creator of everything. That isn't my concept. That's my perception of how a lot of people perceive God. I'm perfectly aware that there are many shades and embellishments of that perception, that he's a force running through everything, a sort of spiritual presence in our lives, that he came to earth as Jesus, etc. I'm also aware that many people make a living out of him, often by dressing in strange ceremonial clothing and talking about God in dense, obscurantist circumlocutions (I think they call it "theology"). If I reject God I have to also reject all of that. You might as well say in that case that every atheist is a fundamentalist. Well, that's no more than a nice try at an insult, based on the old canard that atheism is some kind of an equivalent to a religion. It behoves critics of atheism to be a little more imaginative than that. Insulting atheists by calling them fundamentalists or accusing them of espousing an atheist belief system smacks of frustration and a lost argument. If you find the terms creation and creator a little uncomfortable, and you really are looking for deeper understanding, your search will inevitably make you abandon God eventually. There really is no further understanding to be gained by following a sterile path with no possibility of finding any evidence save suspect revelation. And I know you're not going to tell me that religious contemplation helps you to find those deeper truths. That would be so arrogant (pardon the pre-emptive strike!). Those truths can be equally well discovered, maybe better, via contemplation unhampered by a deity, a point that seems to me to be lost on a good few believers.

DMcG, 'twas you who made religion and science into equivalent subjects. I agree that maths and history permeate our lives, just like science, and I revel in finding that irresistible. Unfortunately for religion, the same can't really be said. For a start there are too many different species of religion. Then there is no religion. I know you may think that religion seems to permeate my life even though I'm supposed to be an atheist, but that's really only true for the small parts of the day when I'm testing my own mettle in these threads. Then you have working scientists who have to ditch religion, at least temporarily, in order to not jeopardise the scientific method. Life has to go on in spite of religion.