What should a man believe in? A soldier would say you should believe in yourself. A politician would say believe in his vision. A christian would say believe in Jesus. It seems then that there is a choice of what you can believe, and inevitably, there's always persuasion or pressure to conform to someone elses ideals. In some situations, conformity is understandable. A soldier does what he's ordered to do because life gets very uncomfortable if he doesn't. You generally do what politicians want because otherwise they jail you. Most of us have no intention of being burnt at the stake.

The problem here is that conformity isn't just expected, its enforced, with potentially dire consequemces for those who cannot submit. This is the extreme end of this facet of human social behaviour. There is also the that endless recruiting that goes on, the knock on the door from one christian sect or another, the pamphlets or cult newsletters through the letterbox. The symbolism is often well illustrated, but if you think about it, surely the promulgation of stereotypical images require a latent acceptance of christian belief to start with? Since I have no belief in Jesus as the son of some invisible omnipresent super-being, it was hardly likely to work. Sometimes, there's someting more insidious, as religious people manipulate things to bring you around to their way of thinking.

Researching roman slavery, I delved into the works of a roman writer, Cassius Dio. Constantly he refers to slavery as a lack of free will, describing Marc Antony as a slave of his egyptian mistress as much as a conquered people led away in chains. Its a view I can readily understand given the attempts to fit me into a particular stereotype that have gone on for years. I dislike this pressure to change.

One of the things I hate most about christianity is the attitude that the end justifies the means, that any sin may be committed and forgiven if the perpetrator (or his judge) believes or proclaims he acted in his religions name..Fate is the sum of all decisions and natural forces, and since God is merely a human concept and has no reality beyond an excuse for human decision, there cannot therefore be an act of God, which renders prayer pointless apart from proving your conformity to your peers. Or perhaps giving you a psychological rock to cling to when life gets stormy? After all, christianity - like many other religions - relies on psychological dependence to an unseen omnipotent being whose existence is a matter of faith.

For the record, I'm a spiritualist. Not a standard spiritualist at all, but someone with a more individualistic belief structure which I have to say is pretty typical of me. It reflects my nature as a human being. In my worldview, the world is how the world is. I cannot see the world in any other way, for that is the evidence of my experience. Its that experience that leads me to be a spiritualist.

My mother, as a devout practising christian, prays for just about everything, mostly that I'll come to my senses and discover God. She has this strange idea that I'm a stray sheep, who will someday realise that I need to rejoin the flock. To me thats ridiculous. I was never really a christian to begin with, and since I've adopted my beliefs as my own personal worldview I see no reason to adopt the pomp and ceremony of a religion I regard as hopelessly hypocritical and anachronistic.You see, belief is what you hold to be true. Religion is organised belief, and in most cases, its what someone tells you to believe. Since I do not formalise my beliefs, add pointless ritual, nor listen to preachers, it must be said that I do not subscribe to religion. Since I do not therefore expect a divine agency to put my world to rights, the obstacles placed before my progress are the work of people, not some supernatural curse. Those individuals seeking to manipulate my beliefs and entice me to become christian are barking up the wrong tree. So, whoever is trying it on, at least have the moral courage to stand before me and make your case.

There was once an arab, who, having experienced the medieval crusaders handiwork, wrote that - Jews, christians, and moslems are all the same. In truth there are only two sorts of men - those with brains and no religion - and those with religion and no brains...