Madam, - Regularly I am thankfully reminded why I'll probably never stop reading The Irish Times, never return to the religion of my childhood, and probably never shift from a firmly held view that the replacement of religion in the schools curriculum by civics and nature study affords many answers as regards man's inhumanity to man (and beast.)
Daily your journal induces a mix of emotions - whether we read of religious fervour and its fall-out at home and around the world; of Prof Reville, defender of the faith, asserting that astrology is poppycock because it can't be proven scientifically; of Fr Gilhooly tearing up the return ticket to his Scottish ministry consequent to the elevation of Cardinal Ratzinger; or whether we're presented with a close-up image of El Cordobes poised to extinguish the life of one of nature's awesome creations, having firstly, in pursuit of entertainment, tormented it to distraction.
And let's not forget the Letters page where, for example, we have the informed Kieron Wood (May 10th) proposing that in matters of religious belief there is reinforcement in numbers - a dangerous hypothesis, I'd have thought.
Thanks for the stimulation and the insights and the images. - Yours, etc,
OWEN MORTON, Station Road, Sutton, Dublin 13.