Trading sound bites is rarely a good way to engage in debate or discussion and invariably generates more heat than light but just occasionally there is a time and a place. John Lennox (Professor of Mathematics at Oxford) was addressing the National Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast this year and in his presentation he noted Stephen Hawking’s comment that ‘Heaven is a fairy tale for people afraid of the dark’. He said that he couldn’t resist replying in kind with the following: Atheism is a fairy story for those afraid of the light. It does the job well, I think.
Simon