And why now? The Doctor was raised back to life by the power of ‘prayer’ in Last of the Time Lords. That was a bit much, even for Russell T Davies. How come Green didn’t complain then?

David Tennant’s Doctor really gels with this type of writing. And the work of Russell T Davies, often being a response to Christian culture, is part of the Christian heritage. I agree what Andy posted here.

I’m thankful that there are people who dare to ask certain questions that seem to be a no go area in various religious circles. The people we call atheists point to many inconsistancies and various stupid interpretations of biblical texts and so forth.

Faith in God as inspired by Jesus’ words and life can’t do without this questioning. Personally I find it helpful, because it forces me to think and reason as well as keep the faith.

The writers of the new Doctor Who weems to excell in clever and inspired writing, I think it’s a real improvement on the classic series. Davies likes to make his symbolism a bit OTT sometimes, he’s not much into subtlety, that’s obvious. But I appreciate what he does!

And I think Stephen Green needs to learn that humor, symbolism and imagination are not the enemy. That guy gives the Christian faith a bad name. And that’s something, as a Christian, that I want to complain about!

It’s possible to interpret a big Christian influence in Russell T Davies’ Doctor Who writing. The episode Gridlock shows the Doctor descending into the depths and raising up the prisoners from below who have been living under rules and regulations which sustain them but which also deprive them of the true fullness of light and life. It’s actually a fair allegory for life under Mosaic/Pharisaic law and the Nazarene’s response to it.

In Europe, atheism didn’t build itself out of new mud: it’s still quite a truism to say that there’s nothing so Christian as an atheist because a lot of atheistic thinking is a response arising within a Christian socio-linguistic context, and it should be no surprise that Doctor Who writers inevitably draw on the strong symbols of Christian heritage.

Doctor Who for the sake of its audience wisely sidesteps adopting a religious/non-religious ideological stance. However, it’s extremely small-minded for a modern Christian group to demand that only they can use angels and saviour images appropriately for Christmas Day. They should think themselves lucky that Christian cultural images like fiery furnaces and angels lifting you to heaven are still meaningful references to people.