Problem: Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 - 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the 20th century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius.

As a young man Dickens expressed a distaste for certain aspects of organized religion. In 1836, in a pamphlet titled Sunday Under Three Heads, he defended the people's right to pleasure, opposing a plan to prohibit games on Sundays. "Look into your churches- diminished congregations and scanty attendance. People have grown sullen and obstinate, and are becoming disgusted with the faith which condemns them to such a day as this, once in every seven. They display their feeling by staying away [from church]. Turn into the streets [on a Sunday] and mark the rigid gloom that reigns over everything around"  Dickens honoured the figure of Christ--though some claim he may have denied his divinity. Notwithstanding, Dickens has been characterized as a professing Christian. His son, Henry Fielding Dickens, described Dickens as someone who "possessed deep religious convictions". In the early 1840s Dickens had shown an interest in Unitarian Christianity, and Robert Browning remarked that "Mr. Dickens is an enlightened Unitarian." Writer Gary Colledge, however, asserted that he "never strayed from his attachment to popular lay Anglicanism". He also wrote a religious work called The Life of Our Lord (1849), which was a short book about the life of Jesus Christ, written with the purpose of inculcating his faith to his children and family.  Dickens disapproved of Roman Catholicism and 19th-century evangelicalism, and was critical of what he saw as the hypocrisy of religious institutions and philosophies like spiritualism, all of which he considered deviations from the true spirit of Christianity. Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky referred to Dickens as "that great Christian writer".

Did he believe in Christ?

Answer with quotes: Dickens honoured the figure of Christ--though some claim he may have denied his divinity.


Problem: Idlewild are a Scottish indie rock band that formed in Edinburgh in 1995. The band's line-up consists of Roddy Woomble (lead vocals), Rod Jones (guitar, backing vocals), Colin Newton (drums), Andrew Mitchell (bass) and Luciano Rossi (keyboards). To date, Idlewild have released seven full-length studio albums, with their latest, Everything Ever Written, released in February 2015. Initially, Idlewild's sound was faster and more dissonant than many of their 1990s indie rock contemporaries.

The band continued to play more gigs while working on their next album. Meanwhile, Woomble started writing a column for Scottish newspaper The Sunday Herald and released an album with Kris Drever and John McCusker, entitled Before the Ruin, in September 2008.  In December 2008 the band played five shows at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, playing each of their studio albums in full. Roddy Woomble noted that the band were "going to try to play every track [they'd] ever written - including B-sides - which has to be more than 100 songs." In February 2009, they announced that they would be staging a similar residency at Dingwalls in Camden, London.  A new song, "City Hall", appeared in a setlist, and the band entered the studio in January 2009. On his online diary, Roddy Woomble noted that he had: "been trying to work on lyrics for the new Idlewild record. At the moment it has the possibility of being about anything, so I've been trying to narrow that down a bit. I've been re-reading Jack Kerouac's novels and following this US election, and keeping up with all the new US groups, so maybe it'll take on a Stars and stripes theme. It'll probably end up being about mountains and Islands though."  On 21 November the band sent an email to fans on the mailing list offering them a chance to preorder the new album (along with "exclusive packaging & including at least one bonus track") to be "shipped within weeks of completion". All fans who bought the album this way would also have their name appear in the CD booklet and on a roll call on the band's official website. On 9 May 2009, Roddy confirmed in his online diary that the new album would be entitled Post Electric Blues. The album was performed in full on 19 May.  Initial emails indicated a release date to fans who had pre-ordered the album of mid-April, but the album was eventually mailed out on 10 June 2009. Fans who pre-ordered the album were also allowed to download their choice of live tracks that the band had recorded at the King Tut's series of shows. The album was officially released in October, preceded by the single "Readers & Writers". In April 2010, Roddy Woomble announced that the band would enter a hiatus following the band's tour in support of Post Electric Blues. However this comment only referred to the writing and recording of new material as Woomble later suggested. Idlewild announced their first American tour since 2005 and a short UK tour in support of the EMI re-release of 100 Broken Windows. During the UK shows (as well as a New York and Los Angeles show) the album was to be played in its entirety. However, due to an injury to Rod Jones, the American dates were cancelled. The 100 Broken Windows reissue was released on 8 November 2010 and featured a second disc of B-Sides and unreleased material.

Did they achieve their goal?

Answer with quotes: