Damn it, thought Craig, I know better than to argue with a priest. He did not answer for a minute.
Brulieres said gently, "Please forgive me if I am too direct. You do not believe that Evil is a real force?"
Craig could not meet the penetrating eyes. The old doubt edged into his mind: what if he's right and I am wrong? What if there is a personal God? He pushed the thought away, telling himself as he always did that it was just the exposure he'd suffered before he was old enough to think for himself. He said, "I'm a scientist, Padre."
"But not, unless I misjudge you, an atheist?"
"I call myself an agnostic, if you must classify me. I recognize the possibility of some force behind life and mind. I do not believe in a God who is a man with a beard. Nor do I believe in a Devil with hooves and horns."
Brulieres nodded again. "We are not so far apart as you may suppose, Doctor. Myself, I have always thought that one who claimed perfect faith without the trace of a doubt, was either an idiot or a liar. God surely has his reasons for not removing all doubt. In any case I wish to make my position clear to you. It was not happily that I took up what weapons were at hand. Had I the choice, I would choose quite differently." He eyed Craig directly for a moment. "The battle is very real and very clear to me, Doctor. I have done what I must. I hope you will believe that."
Craig's skeptical mind told him that this was just a play for a good press when Craig got home.
His emotions though, wouldn't go along. They cried out that he was looking upon sincerity.
III