There's no Hell mentioned in the Old Testament. The punishment of the dead is not specified there. It's only with gentle Jesus, meek and mild, that the idea of eternal torture for minor transgressions is introduced.

To terrify children with the image of hell, to consider women an inferior creation - is that good for the world?

Those who want to be offended don't have the right to try and close down the newspaper that offends them.

Forget it. Never explain; never apologize. You can either write posthumously or you can't.

We have known for a long time that Prince Charles' empty sails are so rigged as to be swelled by any passing waft or breeze of crankiness and cant. He fell for the fake anthropologist Laurens van der Post. He was bowled over by the charms of homeopathic medicine. He has been believably reported as saying that plants do better if you talk to them in a soothing and encouraging way

To the dumb question, 'Why me?' the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply, 'Why not?'

I'm not afraid of being dead, that's to say there's nothing to be afraid of. I won't know I'm dead, would be my strong conviction. And if I find that I'm alive in any way at all, that'll be a pleasant surprise. I quite like surprises.