“Who am I to question his beliefs?” You are Darren and perfectly entitled to, in fact I would have had a right old barney with the fellow.

“he was foisting his beliefs on me and telling me why I was wrong”. For me, this is troubling – not to sound too much like your priest friend for a moment – because he does not have to be in church to tell you what he believes in. If I tell you that it is going to rain later today and then it doesn’t, am I foisting this line? Of course he can tell you that you are wrong.

The worst thing you could do is go and read Dawkins. Can I draw your attention to http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2009/09/17/religion-for-radicals-an-interview-with-terry-eagleton/. This is both a far less polarised position and will leave you less frustrated the next time you find yourself in that position. My child