Pelican writes

'According to some religious leaders, flood, fire and drought are caused by God to punish innocent humans for the acts of others (sinners).'

The next thing you will be telling me Pelican is that you deserve to have been given the food, clothing and good things you received in this life. The shaking of puny fists who are recipients of grace day after day just confirms how arrogant and presumptuous the adamic nature leads a person to be. The non acceptance that their is no goodness outside of God leads to such self righteousness.

....as opposed to the "all-knowing" self-righteousness regularly articulated by some Christians, eh, runner?

There is but one God (Yahweh,God, Allah or Ilah), surrounded by her profit.
The Hindu, Shinto, Athiest, etc. are woefully bereft, but hardly to the extent of her chosen race upon which so much destitution has historically fallen.

"I am convinced that when anyone is inside “the Christian bubble of faith” it is almost impossible for them to see outside that bubble."

It's not that bad. According to census figures there are about 1500 less religious believers in Australia than there were last week; and that has been going on for a decade.

Just imagine for a moment what would happen if a religious cult was acquiring members at that rate. They would be triumphantly trumpeting their success across every newspaper, television and radio outlet they could find.

Aren't you glad that we're just quiet achievers?

The floods are not punishment for anything, nor was the drought. God doesn’t overturn the laws of nature if we ask earnestly enough, or ignore human suffering until we draw it to his attention. You'll rarely hear this kind of nonsense preached in mainstream churches (Catholic, Anglican, Uniting), only the literalist fringes such as the church Brian attended. It’s a shame no-one introduced him to less literalist theology when he started to become disillusioned. Faith and reason don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

Hi Brian,

The title of your book caught my eye: "From Faith to Reason"

I was raised in an atheist household and ended up a Muslim. I look upon the Qur'aan as a 'book' of faith AND reason.

You'll understand what i mean if you read Chapter 19, entitled Maryam (or Mary), versus 16 to 36. These recount the birth of Jesus, her birth pangs, the reaction of her community (accusing her of adulatory) and the response of Jesus (or Isa), who spoke as a baby and with the most profound reasoning:

"It is not befitting to (the majesty of) Allah that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him! When He determines a matter, He only says to it "Be", and it is. (35) Verily Allah is my Lord and your Lord: Him therefore serve ye: this is a Way that is straight. (36)"

http://www.quranexplorer.com/quran/?Sura=19&FromVerse=30&Translation=Eng-Dr. Mohsin&Script=Usmani

Also I invite you to use the opportunity to listen to the recitation of the versus. Something many people do not realise is that the Qur'aan really is not a book, but a recitation.

salaams