Do any point and shoot cameras come close to digital slr cameras in photo quality?

you might consider buying a bridge camera such as Canon g12

yes its an excellent camera with tons of great features including a very convenient flip out LCD screen for viewing at various angles. I'm very pleased with the image quality! The buttons and interface usability is classic Canon and very easy to use. I have larger, expensive SLR cameras but sometimes don't want to lug all my equipment around with me. This is a perfect solution for those times. Great value for the price. I would definitely recommend this camera.

This camera is like a SLR camera without the bulk and heaviness. It has manual, semi and fully automatic settings. But as any point and shoot, it struggles to take descent photos indoor.

Yes, the top of the line Canon, Nikon, Lumix and others are phenomenal. You are looking at about $450-$500 for those cameras. I have had pictures published in magazines off a Canon G9

The main advantage of SLR cameras is that they allow you to be creative. If you use a SLR camera as you would use a good point-and-shoot you will get about the same results.

Depends. There are a few large sensor compact cameras, but it's debateable whether you'd classify them under p&s. The ones from the top of my head:

- Canon S95/S100: large sensor (1/1.7") for a compact, still much smaller than a DSLR

- Canon G12: same sensor as S95, but larger box and more buttons

- Canon G1X: 1.5" sensor (larger than 4/3, smaller than usual Canon DSLR)

Probably not close, but that doesn't mean you can't get good pictures from them (for example, I can get nice pictures from my sony compact camera).

Coolpix, Sureshot, Cybershot, Optio, lumix, etc. - doesn't matter. A compact is a compact. It's more dependent on the model than on the brand.

Canon's G series (G12) is pretty sweet. I bet the only time you'd notice a difference in quality would be when you start making big prints.

No, their sensors are too small.