Madam, - The opposing views expressed in your Debate column of May 1st concisely reflect the division between theists and humanists. Dana Rosemary Scallon attempts to draw up a dreary balance sheet containing the good social consequences of belief in a god on one side versus the bad ones for a society without such belief on the other. However, any objective view of history makes this an endlessly contentious exercise.
The point is that humanist ideals as expounded by Proinsias De Rossa are inclusive and pluralist, wishing to embrace all in consensual arrangements of sharing, while at the same time respecting people's right to be and think differently. This is not easy. It is definitely not helped by political declarations of religious partisanship as proposed for the EU constitutional treaty preamble by Ms Scallon. - Yours, etc.,
CORMAC O'CONNELL,
Laurleen,
Stillorgan,
Co Dublin._