Wish fulfilment

Stephen Hawking: 'religion is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.'

John Lennox: 'atheism is a fairy story for people afraid of the light.'

(And as Lennox points out, each statement sounds good but means nothing. The truth of either depends on whether or not God really does exist. )

A spiritual North Korea

The cruel death of Mohan Amir Aslani: this Iranian psyschologist was hanged--hanged--eight days ago for teaching that the story of Jonah in the Qur'an may have been symbolic, not literal. He may have been collateral damage in a wider war within Iran of extremists trying to de-stablise Iran's reforming President Rouhani. But he is another martyr to the way radical Islamists make Islam a spiritual North Korea: it's paradise here, and we'll kill you if you try to leave.

And the Qur'an needs some fresh interpreting. Without it, radical Islam, unbending, will continue to bang and smash violently around in the world. God have mercy on his soul, and his family.