KEVIN McKenna is an excellent columnist, but he has a blind spot where his religious beliefs reside ("The SNP's social diktats are a betrayal of the Yes movement", The Herald, July 13). He sees hostility rather than reason as a cause for the waning influence of religion on society and has a habit of playing the victim when it comes to his Christianity.
He is happy to assault political ideas with reasoned argument, but seems unhappy for religious ideas to endure the same scrutiny. This presumably is because they bear no scrutiny at all.
In science, that great liberator of humanity, a hypothesis is only valid if it can be tested, even theoretically. An almighty creator is not a valid hypothesis, no matter how much it may mean to you to believe in one. It is not intolerant to question religious beliefs, or knock them flat on their backs so easily and he is wrong to say that it is. He is free to believe in what he wants, just don't expect people with any scientific curiosity to go along with him. And don't expect our society to be limited by religious dogma, as it has so damagingly in the past.
David Ure, Glasgow G13.
THANK goodness there remains one person left in Scotland who knows what God, in his divine wisdom, is thinking. Of all the reasons I have heard why full independence is the right thing for Scotland, Kevin McKenna’s knowledge of the Almighty’s views certainly allays my concerns about the unnecessary risks and adverse unintended consequences of freedom from the shackles of oppression. This God fella has always shown some ambivalence about slavery (see Old Testament and Ten Commandments), so it’s great to see that Mr McKenna has straightened out his thinking on the subject. Now, if he could tell us what God’s views on the next Scottish elections are, we Scots could save a bit of money paying for all this democracy nonsense. Hallelujah!
Jamie Malcolm, Edinburgh EH14.
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