Theories of Trial

Fred was far from being a religious man, not in the conventional sense at least. His position, as far as I could assess, was that if there were a cosmic creator it would be scarcely conceivable that any of the world's religions would have fully grasped either His intent or His plan. A degree of incompleteness in comprehending such matters must necessarily remain. I believe he kept an open mind, as I did, and regarded “creation”, in some form, as being a valid intellectual position to hold in relation to the origin of life. He was also cynical of the ambivalent scientific attitude that prevailed in relation to this whole question: whilst it was considered untenable for “creation” to be used in connection with life, it was perfectly acceptable to contemplate that an entire Universe, with all its inherent laws, suddenly came into existence some 13.75 billion years ago, created to all intents and purposes. If Fred and I ever discussed “creation” or a “creator” we did so only as an abstract concept free of any specific Judeo–Christian implications…