ÖйúAƬ

So Archbishop Stephen Hawking has pontificated that God is not necessary to explain the Universe. He asks us to believe that the laws of physicists can now be enshrined in M-Theory - a Theory of Everything, an immaculate concept.

Incomprehensible even to its architects, this onanistic intellectualisation surpasses that of the late medieval Church. Young scholars, believing they will attain the secrets of the Universe, are seduced into sacrificing their lives to years in our academic monasteries.

Supported by the self-styled atheist Cardinal Richard Dawkins, the belief that we are on the brink of a Theory of Everything has taken possession. What faith! Monotheism is dead, long live "Monotheorism"!

Hopefully this is the last throw from our scientific priesthood. Perhaps the world will come to its senses and from those senses, a less pernicious and more enlightened relationship with the natural world will develop. Methinks it is time for a Reformation. And yes, there are fairies at the bottom of my garden.

Hugh V. St. A. Hubbard, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds.