That does not compute.

We are now aware of many inconvenient truths:

1) The Bible was written by men, not a God
2) The books of the Bible were selected by men
3) There are myriad organised religions and factions within factions of each
4) If one of them is right, and that seems unlikely, it is very well hidden
among all the others
5) Given our beliefs it seems unlikel that all the followers of the other factions are doomed

Mrs Blair seemed to be interested in a non-denominational approach similar to the USA, which would be a big step forward in my view but there is something lacking in that to my mind – a blind, bland faith of not very well defined form. And to be honest it smacked very much more of popularity than conviction.

What I would like to see is a move away from popularity… an attempt to “get at the truth”. Perhaps a joining with science to look at the spiritual nature of Man and try to advance our knowledge and understanding rather than come at this with preconcieved ideas as is the case today.

The days of churchmen as leaders of a community, pontificating from on high (and sometimes from very far away as with a Pope) are gone.

And it concerns me to see Cabinet members voting their Catholic religious conscience – the Pope cannot be allowed to vote in British cabinet. If they cannot put that aside then they are not fir for office in my view.

Instead, let’s see the various denominations come together to examine the God question together with a view to moving towards enlightenment and understanding rather than telling us how it is – because, guys, we already know that you know no more than we do.

They won’t all join in at first, a few to begin with perhaps… but others will join later when they see that it is the way forward and everyone knows it.

Before that can happen people must be prepared to put aside the ingrained belief systems that they were brought up with – even indoctrinated with – and look at this from a clean-sheet perspective.

Hope this helps.

However, I have two major criticisms about the series that in my opinion have prevented it from being truly seminal. These are:

1. The last episode presented by Cherie Blair sadly was not up to the standard of all the previous episodes. Either blinded by her own prejudices or naivety, Mrs Blair gave American evangelicalism far too easy a ride in suggesting that it could provide some lessons for Christianity in Europe.

Firstly, it was too simplistic for Mrs Blair to suggest that Christianity in Europe was generally failing. One only needs to visit countries such as Poland to witness the power that the established Catholic Church still wields over the people, in a uniquely nationalist way.

Secondly, although it is fair to say that Christianity played a significant part in the civil rights movement in the US, she omits to mention that the powers that resisted and opposed this movement in the deep south were themselves greatly influenced by a very conservative form of Christianity – one that still exists today, and that in fact played a major role in getting George W Bush re-elected in 2004, supporting the very un-Christian bloodbath he unleashed in Iraq.

Thirdly, I find it curious that she should hold up the Willow Farm church as an example of a form of worship that could save the future of Christianity. She mentions that modern materialism is one of the reasons why western Christianity has dwindled in popularity. Is the irony of what she says not lost on her when visiting a church that is built like a shopping mall, where worship is conducted in a cinema-like auditorium and where parishioners can meet up beforehand in Starbucks-like cafes? Does not the existence of such a church highlight the problem with modern materialism rather than provide a cure for it?

Most importantly, no questions are asked about how such an establishment is funded, what happens to any profits that are made, and how the pastors are remunerated. There have been too many scandals about TV evangelists in the US – Jim Bakker, Jimmy Lee Swaggart and Pat Robertson to name a few, for such questions not to be posed.

2. The lack of any consideration of the Orthodox Church – this is an important branch of Christianity whose story needs to be told for any so called “history of Christianity” to be truly representative. Perhaps Channel 4 tried but failed to find an Orthodox presenter for any of the episodes. I think a suitable episode for such a presenter would have been the one about the dark ages, when the story of the schism between the Orthodox and Catholic churches may have been discussed. The excellent Robert Beckford could instead have been asked to do the final episode on the future of Christianity, which I’m sure he would have done a far better job of than the hapless Mrs Blair.