Help wanted ads: God wanted - only for climate change - no other responsibilities

In "The world may have to turn to God to save itself from climate change, claims one of Britain's most eminent scientists" (07 Sep 2009), Richard Alleyne, the Telegraph's science correspondent, reports

Lord May, the president of the British Science Association, said religion may have helped protect human society from itself in the past and it may be needed again.

Speaking on the eve of the association’s annual conference, the committed atheist said he was worried the world was on a “calamitous trajectory” brought on by its failure to co-ordinate measures against global warming.

Sir David Attenborough: 'Man was given permission to exploit the natural world by the Bible' He said that no country was prepared to take the lead and a “punisher” was needed to make sure the rules of co-operation were not broken.

The former Government chief scientific advisor said in the past that was God and it might be time again for religion to fill the gap.

“Maybe religion is needed,” said Lord May, who was brought up a Scottish Presbyterian but went through an "inverse epiphany" at the age of 11.

He sure did go through a reverse epiphany if he thinks that you can hire God to do some jobs but not to completely reorganize your life in the true way - which may or may not include validating your current specific theories about climate change.

My favourite writer, C. S. Lewis compared it, rightly, to going to the dentist. The dentist can fix the tooth that aches, but once he begins poking around, he inevitably finds a number of teeth that have not yet begun to ache but certainly will, when they are past the point of simple repair.

If that is the problem, avoiding the dentist is not the solution.