Away with the fairies

As the idea of a medium being called in to exorcise a "spirit" (other than the wine and...variety) from a Carlisle off-licence makes headlines and a News & Star survey finds that most respondents believe in ghosts, I'm growing a little worried about the mental health of folk in my adopted Cumbria. I suppose one could also list the ludicrous speculation about the cursing stone a few years back as a further example of superstitious gullibilty

Ask most adults whether they believe in fairies, and they'll tell you that's something from childhood, like Christmas tales of Santa Claus.

Ask them if they believe in ghosts, and the majority - beyond superstitious Cumbria - will pooh-pooh the idea, just as they will Yuri Geller's spoon-bending and clock-stopping as anything more than trickery.

Ask what they think about Greek, Roman and Norse gods, and - although 'By Jove!' was once a not uncommon exclamation - they'll probably say that they were mythological beings, dreamed up by people to whom the 'truth' of Christianity, or (although the Romans long occupied what became Palestine and, since 1948, Israel), the Judaism on which it is based, had not been revealed.

Yet, a probably shrinking number of apparently intelligent people will tell you that they believe, without the benefit of a shred of evidence, but many indications to the contrary -like the horrific Haitian and Chilean earthquakes and, more recently, the tragic landslide on the holidays and wine island of  Madeira, and, of course, our own 'Biblical' West Cumbrian floods - in the existence of a supernatural being who created the Universe and, depending on the dogma of their sect, may or may not continue to watch over it.

That supernatural being is also revered, of course, by Muslims, who - though it may come as a shock to some - share many of the beliefs of the Christians and Jews. Yahweh, Jehovah and Allah are one and the same, I think.

Professionally, I worked in the late 1970s to publicise the world congress in London of an evangelical Muslim sect, the, then 10 million-strong, Amahdiyya Movement in Islam (to which the pop singer Cat Stevens became a convert).

Engaging with some very impressive people - such as Sir Mohammed Zafrullah Kahn, president of the International Court of Justice at the Hague - I found myself beginning to think there was more to their belief than mythology. Certainly, their version seemed as credible as that of any other believers in the supernatural, though they caused consternation among Christian religious correspondents and clergy, by claiming that Jesus, whose existence, as a lesser prophet than Muhammad, they did not question, had not died on the cross but - revived by the physician, Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Jewish supreme court, the Sanhedrin, into whose care his 'body' was given and supposedly entombed in a cave - had journeyed through Asia Minor, seeking to unite the tribes of Israel.

The Amahdis claimed that Jesus settled in Srinagar, the Kashmiri capital, married, had children and eventually died at the age of 120. We sent a respected Sunday Telegraph journalist, Pearson Phillips, to Srinagar and he reported on conversations he had had with people who claimed to be descended from Jesus and on a mausoleum containing, among other artifacts, a carved stone cross; an alien emblem in Kashmir. The Indian Government, in whose control the supposed grave of Christ lay, would not allow it to be opened and investigated. As far as I know, it remains intact.

Credible or not? It seemed as true as any beliefs offered by other sects within the three great monotheistic religions. However, my inclination to believe was shattered when, talking to one of the imams who accompanied the movement's leader from its headquaters in Pakistan, I asked if he believed in evolution. 'Yes', he said, 'but not for mankind'.

In so far as I believe anything - beyond Rene Descartes' 'Cogito, ergo sum'; 'I think, therefore I am' - I am an atheist Darwinian ... and Darwin brooked no exceptions to the origin of species.

As to the origin of the Universe, I go along with the Big Bang, but can no more explain what preceded it than can a Christian tell what the creator was doing before he made it, or who created the creator. Like the number of angels who can dance on the head of a pin, it's a question of little relevance to real life. We are here - in my case, perhaps for not much longer - and that's that.