Well, now we know for sure, The Times of London is firmly and deeply in the camp of Richard Dawkins. Its editorial on Friday confirmed this. The leader writer was reacting to a declaration by Stephen Hawking that we can now explain the Universe without any need for God. It praised Dawkins along the way rebutting all criticism of him.

In the coming issue of The Irish Catholic I am writing about Hawking's remarkable silly wittering about God. But based on this ex cathedra declaration from Hawking The Times for its part declares that we can once and for all say that science is of the mind and religion is "only a decision of the heart", which is to say lacks any rational basis.

But Hawking's declaration is based on an extremely speculative theory called M Theory, and in turn the judgement of The Times is based on this.

However, even if we allow that one day scientists will be able to prove that the Universe kick-started itself they will be no closer to explaining why there was something to kick-start in the first place.