An interesting news item caught my eye this week; a group of Church of England bishops are of the opinion that the latest foul weather is a direct result of our depravity! The bishops said the recent floods which claimed seven lives and deluged thousands of homes were the result of "moral degradation". While stressing that those affected were innocent victims, they claimed the devastation was the consequence of the West's decision to ignore Biblical teaching, with an "arrogant" world "reaping what we have sown"...

One member of this group The Bishop of Carlisle Rt Rev Graham Dow: believes the extreme weather is the direct consequence of mankind's lack of respect 'for each other'. He said: "This is a strong and definite judgment because the world has been arrogant in going its own way”.

"We are reaping the consequences of our moral degradation, as well as environmental damage." His opinion is shared by James Jones Bishop of Liverpool one of Dows cronies whose opinions on gay civil partnerships, indeed anything gay are well known.

I thought I’d do a little probing and find out more about this respected elder of The Church of England, I refer to Bishop Dow, because I’m of the opinion that if a person holds one crackpot opinion they must have a few more lurking away in their robing closets.

I was not disappointed.

Bishop Dow has hit the headlines on several occasions this year after joining the row over homosexuality within the Church of England and after it was revealed he believes evil spirits can be introduced into the world through miscarriages, abortions, oral and anal sex.

In 1990 Bishop Dow, a close friend of former Prime Minister and war criminal Tony Blair, wrote a booklet titled “Explaining Deliverance”, in which his views on evil spirits were revealed. He said the spirits could also cause untreatable diseases.

He wrote that people who repeatedly wear black or always purchase a black car may be possessed by evil spirits. He says clear signs of evil spirits at work are “sexual lust and deviant sexual practice”. Oh dear! I’d better stay home during storms!

I don’t really want to turn this into a debate over the existence of God, just for a laugh let’s say he does exist and is just as stroppy as when he was Jehovah in the old testament. Jehovah was renowned for smiting; in fact he was the undisputed champion smiter of all time. He’d smite someone at the drop of a hat, individuals turned in to pillars of salt, firstborn children slaughtered, plagues, hail, floods and all manner of punishments for people who dared to “sin” even mildly by accidentally touching the Ark of the covenant!

So Jehovah is sitting there all omniscient, omnipresent and of course omnipotent on his throne (designed by Gustave Doré) surrounded by his angels, archangels, thrones and dominions etc etc and he just chances to look down on Britain. He is not too happy with what he sees, well, be honest, who is happy with the state of the country? Anyway he decides to do something about it. So being the almighty Jehovah, creator of heaven and earth, destroyer of Sodom and Gomorrah, flooder of the earth he decides to punish the sinners! What is Jehovah’s punishment of choice?

Well I guess hails of fire and Brimstone are sooooo first century, so he floods their living rooms, soaks their 3 piece suites, makes their wallpaper peel and causes the carpet, nay the entire house to smell musty for months! That is an almighty deity showing his displeasure against sinners according to some supposedly intelligent, high ranking C of E vicars. No wonder people are turning away from religion in droves; I leave the last word to Albert Einstein who sums up my opinion perfectly.

“I cannot conceive of a personal God who would directly influence the actions of individuals, or would directly sit in judgment on creatures of his own creation.” - Albert Einstein