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Letters

Letters to the Editor

Resurrecting the Dogma • Wronging the Ignorant and Dumb • Collective Madness • Systematic Electrons • Emotional Response

Resurrecting the Dogma

Dear Sir,

It is commonplace for atheistic apologists to sling mud at religion in the hope of discrediting its dogmas, as Les Reid’s letter (Issue 11) demonstrates. To do this is to confuse human inadequacy with religious inadequacy, blaming belief for evils such as ‘apartheid’ and ‘male chauvinist ideology’ when neither is found in the Bible. If Mr Reid would care to take a look at Genesis Chapter One he will discover that both males and females are created in the image of God and thus find that both masculine and feminine qualities are found in God’s fullness.

Mr Reid asks “what is this meaning that religion is supposed to deliver?” My answer is that it delivers the believer into a relationship with the source of all meaning. I wholeheartedly agree with Mr Reid’s assertion that “the cosiness of group activity, the pleasure of ritual and the satisfaction of supporting charity work” are to be found outside of religious organizations, but where do these pleasures come from? What makes these things meaningful? If God does not exist, if there is no objective ground or foundation of meaning in the Universe, then how could it be possible for people to “agree on the facts of our situation, agree on the values we hold and work together for the common good”? The religious contention is that without God, there are no facts or values or good things.

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