The most frequently asked questions after I have given a talk about science and faith touch on the issue of natural evil and on the possibility of miracles. Both are painfully topical.

If God created the universe, why are there hurricanes, earthquakes – and pandemics that sweep away the lives of the most vulnerable? My answer is simple: I don’t know. True, if we were a little less sinful, we could deal with such evil in the natural world better. And we need a sacred standard of “good” to be able to recognise evil. But that doesn’t solve the problem of why there is evil in the first place: “theodicy” was an issue long before Leibniz coined the term and I’m not about to solve it in a soundbite.