We'll just have to wait for you and the good Bishop to read on down to the part of the Genesis narrative where Noah, having just turned 601 years old, finds that the flood waters have receded.

Genesis 8: 20 - 21:

"Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it."

"The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though [a] every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done."

There's the answer to the flooding question, you should check it out, but I won't hold my breath.

BTW, my neighbors always call the police when we burn the sacrificially clean animals on the altar, could the Bishop see about a flood or something for the lot of them?

J Perkins, Lakewood, CO. USA

What a delight! Both the bishop's comments and Ruth Gledhill's endorsement of them. They are both full of hot air, at best, in my opinion, but I cherish them as exemplaries of the survival of English eccentricity and as evidence that not all of the most outlandish religious views are birthed in the USA. Perhaps a logical extension of the good bishop's view is that global warming is with us because God is getting hot under the collar. Or that recurrent droughts in central Africa are divine retribution for the rise of evangelical angicanism in the region.

Roger Olien, Austin, Texas USA

Graham Dow is a deep embarrassment to all sensible, rational, modern-minded Christians. He is mentally stuck in the 14th century: the fact that Christians used to believe in such nonsense, and the fact that the Old Testament is full of nonsense, is no excuse whatever. It does not make him a more authentic Christian, merely a more authentic twerp. Perhaps he thinks we should all still be hunting witches.

One may very well wonder how a man who is clearly a few wafers short of a communion ever got to occupy such an exalted position in the Church of England. However, I remember reading somewhere that he is an old friend of Tony Blair.

Nelson Jones, Bournemouth,

This mans mind is routed in mumbo jumbo,superstition,predudice nonsence.in fact i would go as far as to say he has some form of mental illness,he certainly suffers delusional thoughts,no wonder church attendance is falling year in and year out,and good job to.

KEVIN BOWLES, LONDON, LONDON

I hate to remind pious prelates of the principles of the Christian faith, but ... may I simply state the shocking truth? Jesus was scandalous because he preached a God who loves SINNERS, and doesn't destroy them. The same Bible promised that God would never again destroy the earth by water. Any exegetes around to comment? As an Anglo-catholic and mild charismatic, I too am saddened by the misrepresentation and eclectic theology of Bishop Dow. If his commentator champions his African roots, I see in them an animist streak. The saddest part is how I feel Jesus Christ is mis-represented again by a member of the Church leadership. Let us pray that Bishop Dow can have his own "come to Jesus" session and see the "liberty with which Christ has set us free."

R Bagwell, Stoughton, MA, USA

Has the good bishop concluded that, by reason of his title, he enjoys a closer proximity to the Almighty and thus is able more clearly to discern Her will? I would argue the opposite, that Bishop Dow, owing to his position, has grown out of touch with the people of God, causing his capacity to discern the movement of the Spirit in the world to be diminished, not enhanced. The effects of such isolation are evident to all in his misunderstanding of science and the culture around him.

David, Chicago, USA

Thank heaven we Episcopalians have largely moved beyond this garbage. This is hate, pure and simple. I'm sorry, but when people in the Anglican church make statements like this, I am deeply embarrassed as both a Christian and someone in the greater Anglican church.

If you bothered to worry about loving your neighbor, giving everything you own up for the poor, speaking out against the human atrocities in the world, and so on, I'd have at least some respect for your position.

Fine. You stay here in the depths of hate and repression. We for the most part in the Episcopal church are answering a higher calling, thank you very much. Where He is leading us trumps any of this bile.

Craig, Tucson, Arizona USA

Btw, the legislation referred to is not "pro-gay", it's simply going a little way to correct injustice against a particular sector of society which has been the object of church-sponsored homophobia for two thousand years. Were there never any natural catastrophes during all this period of repression by the churches?

Jane, Brighton,

If the the CofE knew its place, it would stick to social work, Christenings, marriages and funerals. To pipe up with rubbish like the Bish of Carslisle makes them a laughing stock and wins them no friends nor converts.

Martin, Caen, France

Dear Nathan,

Theology has no dealings with primary causes at all. It deals in the mystical and superstitious. There is no such thing as intelligent design as much as you would wish it. The Watchmaker is indeed Blind.

Scott, Durham, NC, USA

Dear Bishop Dow,

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other specific laws and how to follow them:

I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to the Irish but not the French. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own a Frenchman?

Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev.19:27. How should they die?

Eric Blair, Brighton,

Today's believers in the secular worldview laugh and mock these Christian beliefs as being outmoded and un-scientific. They will will point to a low pressure area and say: this is the cause of the floods; but the Christian will say: yes... that is the physical process by which these came about but why does it have the properties it has or why has this weather system hung over our country for so long. It is these questions of purpose the Bible helps us to think about and not scientific processes.
It is a little disturbing that people, of all beliefs tend to look at the world so simplistically and consequently discount faith and science so easily.
Theology deals with primary causes, science: secondary causes.
eg. why does the computer screen display "hello" when the enter key is pressed. Yes there are physical processes at work, charge levels being measured, gates opening and closing but the reason it says "hello " is because someone pushed enter and someone designed it to do so.

Nathan Dale, Cambridge, UK

As a priest I don't know whom I find more depressing - Graham Dow for his views or Ruth Gledhill for endorsing them. They lump everyone together as 'our world' or 'we' without any attempt to distinguish between groups of people; they disregard 200 years of critical insight into Biblical writings; they ignore 150 years of social history when some countries have tried to improve the position of all members of society whatever their views and inclinations; they make it more difficult for those of us who try to help people see the relevance of Christianity in today's world.
For myself, I prefer to learn about our weather from the Times Paul Simons and about health and sexuality from Dr Stuttaford - rather than from a bishop in my own church who, I repeat, depresses me.

H Prideaux, Gosport, UK