Britain relative to the U.S. is a highly secular society. Philanthropy alone cannot fill the gap left by government cutbacks. And the sources of altruism go deep into our evolutionary past.

The progress of evolution from President Washington to President Grant was alone evidence to upset Darwin.

What troubles me is the Internet and the electronic technology revolution. Shyness is fueled in part by so many people spending huge amounts of time alone isolated on e-mail in chat rooms which reduces their face-to-face contact with other people.

Religion is the best antidote to the individualism of the consumer age. The idea that society can do without it flies in the face of history and now evolutionary biology.

Science cannot tell theology how to construct a doctrine of creation but you can't construct a doctrine of creation without taking account of the age of the universe and the evolutionary character of cosmic history.