Dr Tina Beattie responds

I sent Dr Tina Beattie my letter by email, only edited slightly to replace "huge black fleshy mass on my testicle" with "huge lump on my privates" (yes, I know it's bowdlerising but I didn't want her just to dismiss it in disgust at my crudeness). I got a very good-humoured response:

Dear Joss,

Thank you so much for your e-mail. I admit to being very moved by your situation, and quite humbled to know that you were so comforted by the programme.

Of course, miracles do happen and we must never give up hope, but I think truthfulness is an essential factor in all human relationships, don't you agree?

With that in mind, I have to say that things don't sound good for you. If I were your wife, I would take full advantage of your swollen privates while she can, because I fear that you might soon be joining your dear dead grandma and her starving dogs.

By the way, if your wife needs to comfort herself after you've gone, she might find it helpful to take a look at page 63 of my recent book, The New Atheists. I understand that there are now some top of the range devices available for this problem. (You can find my book on amazon.co.uk and there is also an interesting blog about it on Richard Dawkins' website).

With all best wishes, and thank you again for taking the time to contact me.

Tina Beattie.

I haven't looked at page 63 of her book yet but fully expect it to be either some pap about consolation, or an admonishment that atheists are always resorting to ridicule because they lack adequate arguments. Still, I appreciate her effort to respond in a good-natured way.

Naturally, I wasn't trying to claim that Tina was actually arguing that the feeling of absence proves god. It is more a statement of exasperation that not experiencing god has no affect on a believer's faith and is dismissed with such a piece of sophistry. It's like the church leaders and theologians are saying, "You can't see god or touch god, but you can experience him in your heart and that is very real. Oh, and if you don't experience him in your heart, that's actually just another 'way' of experiencing him."

I don't think we can ever win over people as deeply indoctrinated as the sweet but batty and deluded Dr Tina, this sort of thing proves just how futile it is. We must work on the young, and at the fringes.