Religion does bad things to people. It also does good things. That's the problem. The Bishop of Durham, David Jenkins, who is not everyone's friend because he often gets too near the mark, says that just as many people use religion to hide from God as to get close to God. To be religious does not necessarily mean that you actually have faith in God, though you may think you do. Illustration - Jesus went to a football match between the Catholics and Protestants. The Catholics scored first. Jesus went wild with excitement, cheered, threw his hat in the air. Then the Protestants scored. Jesus again cheered madly, threw his hat in the air, laughed with delight. "Hey, you," said someone next to him, "whose side are you on?" "Oh, I'm not on anyone's side," said Jesus, "I'm here to enjoy the game." "Huh!" muttered the other one to his neighbour, "an atheist." God does not take sides. God has no favourites. Religion does. It could, of course, have been Jews and Muslims or Hindus or Buddhists playing the game. The problem with religion is that it gives people good directions towards the right things about living, but then we use those things to try to get hold of God - put God in a box. Once I've got those things, I've got God. Bit like getting an assembly kit for an aircraft carrier for Christmas. It's all directions and bits and pieces and you can put it all together until you've got a lovely complete model aircraft carrier. It's yours. "It's mine!" You made it. It's not remotely like the real thing, except perhaps in barest outline.

But it's when religions start to say, "Got it!" and everyone else hasn't got it that it goes bad. True religion is always bigger than our grasp of it.

True religion is about desire, deep, passionate yearning. In every religion there is a prayer that goes something like this: "On, God, my heart is restless till it finds its rest in you." Most people are religious because they have heavenly dreams about how things might be if everything were to be O.K., if everything were to be just and equal and true and beautiful for everybody. This is how it could be - heaven. Everything in complete balance. And we would call that balance or harmony , God, because we have no other name for it. God is unnameable. Beyond names. There isn't one name that will gather it all together because we cannot possibly describe or imagine it. "God" will have to do.

Religions are all ladders, if you like, towards this heavenly vision that we long for. And they all fall short. There is a big gap between every religion and God.

Frankie Howard summed it up when he was asked for his best memory. He said, "It hasn't happened yet."