Richard Dawkins had an excellent programme on Channel 4 last night. It was, simultaneously, troubling and hilarious.

He described the God of the Old Testament as the worst character in “all of fiction”. He pointed out the scripture’s inconsistencies and spoke with fundamentalists of all three Middle-Eastern religions.

But the most important point I think he made was his last. While the fundamentalists are reading, believing and accepting the religious writings as they were written and as truth; moderates and so-called liberals are cherry-picking. “Yes” they say “evolution is true and so, by implication, Genesis is not but I still believe Jesus died on the cross for all our sins”. “Yes” they say “God is good, and loves us all, so you cannot agree or condone what is said and done in the Old Testament”. It is neatly skated over that Jesus was Jewish and believed in the Old Testament…

And one final question for those of you who believe (no harm in that) in something that is no more proveable or likely than fairies in my garden:

Why did Jesus contradict the God of the Old Testament?