The other very important resource I have recently discovered is Maggie Gallagher's Institute for Marriage and Public Policy VA, US, which can be located at http://www.marriagedebate.com. I appreciate how Dr Gallagher facilitates discussion about these important issues by allowing the posting of responses - favourable and otherwise - to her material. I have read some fascinating exchanges of ideas over the months.

In defiance of directives from the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, titular head of the worldwide Anglican church (known as Episcopal Church in the U.S.) and despite protests of bishops the world over, ECUSA bishops approved Robinson's election soon afterwards. This renders the denomination "formally heretical," according to conservative theologian Kendall Harmon, who also edits the Anglican Digest.

"I don't see that as necessary at all and I think it is deeply disappointing that the shrill voices that occupy the extremes of this spectrum have dominated the stage for the past 20 years."

For Collins, unravelling the human genome did not create a conflict in his mind. Instead, it allowed him to "glimpse at the workings of God".

Bishop Thad Barnum knows this history well, and he can connect it to his own journey. He met his wife Erilynne over 25 years ago through their work with St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Darien, Connecticut, a congregation known around the world for its Rector, the Rev. Terry Fullam, and the work that God was doing in their midst. Thad attended nearby Yale Divinity School and ministered in the region. His family tree includes the noted showman P.T.