I am starting today, 27 September 2010, a new series of Another Country.

September, when people are starting new academic terms seems a good time to start a new series.

I have long felt that not enough is being written for people like me. People who struggle with belief in God but still seek him.

Of course there are some lucky people of rock like faith who have a conversion experience. But I suspect that for many of us in the modern world, while we value the role of religion, the nagging thought still returns. Are we alone in a pityless Universe, the creatures of mathematical formulas and no more? Or is there more?

I make no apology for the fact that these thoughts will be rolled out slowly in the light of daily experience. I get rather fed up with books telling me there is one particular right way of thinking or not thinking for oneself.

For me, scripture is a tool but not the only one. For instance, there is the accumulated wisdom of the last two thousand years and what we see with our own eyes.

As the days pass, I will look at the various lives of the Saints to tell us if they provide a clue.

Today is the Feast Day of St Vincent de Paul. A most attractive man, he was born in 1581 and died in 1660. The mere existence obviously of a good life proves nothing except the power of faith.

But what a life. He threw himself into caring for the most despised – namely the galley slaves – who lived in dreadful conditions and his work carries on to this day. Of course, there are many wonderful Atheists who work for the down-trodden, but is it their atheism per se which inspires them? Are there many famous charities named after their Atheist founders?

Religion has produced wars and hatreds, although little to compare to the Barbarism of Stalinism and Naziism. St Paul’s religious inspiration, however, is undeniable.