Gerry Glennon (March 2) does not believe that if faith is required to believe something then the truth value of that belief is diminished. He insists that “in the natural order of things” we are constantly making acts of faith, as when we visit the doctors we have faith that he makes the correct diagnosis. This of course is false reasoning. We are not relying on faith when we go to the doctors, we are relying on the doctors years of education, training and experience, just as when we fly we rely on the years of technological achievements in the aviation industry together with the pilot’s own hard earned expertise. It is science, not blind faith that gives us the confidence that the doctor’s diagnosis is correct or that our flight will arrive safely.
Mr Glennon further distorts the argument, that science and religion are intrinsically in conflict, to claim that the Catholic Church (which was never mentioned) was blamed for opposing the arts and science. It matters little, for while the Catholic Church may have mandated early educational establishments, self preservation and control of the young were the driving forces more than any honest desire to foster the arts. Pope Pius XI may well have founded the Academy of Sciences, but the Vatican’s track record of banning the works of people like Descartes, Pascal, Spinoza and Bacon via the infamous Index Librorum Prohibitorum remains an indelible stain on any claim to scientific benevolence.
Under Pope Pius XI’s stewardship none of Hitler’s writings were banned, even though the index was not discontinued until 1966. But perhaps this should not surprise us, given that the learned pope entered into concordats with both Hitler and Mussolini in an effort to ensure the Catholic Church’s hegemony, particularly in education.
It is an essential part of the scientific enterprise to admit to a gap in knowledge, even to feel a certain frisson at the thought of a continued challenge to future enlightenment. Religion teaches us that it is a virtue to fill the gap with ‘blind faith’.Believing strongly without evidence is seen as a mark of madness or stupidity in any other area of our lives, but religion considers it admirable to pretend to be certain about matters no person can possibly be certain about (eg an afterlife).
Sam Harris elucidates the point: “Like science, every religion makes claims about the way the world is. These claims, such as, God can hear (and will occasionally answer) your prayers give the appearance of fact but have no scientific basis.”
These religious claims are in conflict with the claims of science because science requires evidence whereas religion relies on myths, discrepant Holy Books and faith.
By all means continue to hold strong faith if it gives you comfort, but be gracious enough to accept the truism – What can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence. And extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
DANNY TREACY
Templepatrick, Co Antrim
Nationalism must be about building better future
I was on the first Civil Rights march from Coalisland to Dungannon in August 1968. Just about to turn 14 I didn’t really know what was going on but it led to a lifetime of following politics here.
Could we have believed then that the time would come when the bulwark of Ulster unionism would lie in ruins?
We have won – there can be no doubt about that but now nationalism stands at a juncture and the way we turn will define the history of Northern Ireland for years to come. How do we push on with the nationalist agenda, and what should the agenda be? We need to ask ourselves are we working for a united Ireland or are we content with equality in this place as currently constituted? These are serious questions which will require the nationalist people to be honest and open in a way we never have had to be. Up until now a united Ireland has been a pipe dream that was always a long way off and could be desired wholly because we knew we couldn’t get it. Things have changed.
How then should the nationalist agenda be pursued, assuming that a united Ireland is something that Sinn Féin and the SDLP are serious about?
Let us begin by looking at what we know. The Free State wants nowt to do with us. They have shown themselves oblivious to our plight for 50 years.
Unionism will never become convinced to leave the UK and as long as there is peace here the UK will not do anything. Nationalists need to bring their argument to the British people. The
Northern Ireland state has been in existence for almost a 100 years and history has shown that it is not a viable entity – a state built on hatred has no right to survive. At every point nationalist should be telling the British people that their presence in Ireland is wrong and immoral. Unionism has never grown up and dealt with reality because it has never had too, but now is the time to show this reality to Britain and to reveal to them the part that they have played.
The tide of history is with nationalism. England is broke and getting poorer every day. They don’t need or want the spoilt brats of unionism holding on to their coat tails forever but at all times nationalism must be about building a better future on this island.
TURLOUGH QUINN
Portglenone, Co Antrim
True facts about Alliance
I refute the alternative facts set out by Eamonn MacGrianna (March 10) in the last three sentences of his letter which mention the Alliance Party.
The Alliance Party is neither a unionist party nor a nationalist party. It comprises many members and supporters who come from unionist and nationalist backgrounds. It is a genuinely cross-community party whose fundamental aim has always been to unite the people of Northern Ireland.
His assertion that ‘the Alliance Party split from the UUP in the 1970s as the New Ulster Movement’ is factually and historically untrue.
The New Ulster Movement had no connection whatsoever with the UUP.
It was a political pressure organisation formed in February 1969 by a group of concerned citizens. Prominent among the founders were former members of the old Ulster Liberal Party such as the late Sir Oliver Napier, disillusioned former members of the UUP such as the late Sir Bob Cooper and others who had no political affiliation whatsoever.
I was a member of the 16 person cross-community group which prepared for and launched the Alliance Party on April 21 1970. The true facts concerning the origins and development of the party are contained in my book The Militant Moderates which will be launched at the Alliance Party’s Annual Conference on March 25.
JIM HENDRON
Belfast BT5
Dignified silence
It should come as no surprise that Annie Murphy, ex-partner of Bishop Eamon Casey, appears to be staying quiet at this time.
This decent woman was treated appallingly in Ireland at the time the news broke of her and Casey’s affair and birth of their child.
She went on the Late Late Show and was goaded by Gay Byrne and a hostile audience. I will never forget the look her face as she stayed calm and dignified throughout her ordeal, which was a disgrace on our national broadcaster.
And she survived bravely afterwards, which was not expected or desired by holy Catholic Ireland.
She owes this country nothing by speaking now, but memories of its harshness endured must be forever in her mind.
ROBERT SULLIVAN
Bantry, Co Cork
Casual use of language
I read Allison Morris, ‘Líofa and crocodiles have changed the course of history’ (March 9), and a fine read it was too. A sentence caught my eye, ‘we have had almost a week for that (election result) to bed in’, very true.
My own extension of the ‘bedding in’ process led me to the use of the terms ‘sectarian’ and ‘tribalism’ to describe electoral phenomena.
I have no doubt that these terms may have been accurate in the distant past.
Today though they are casually used by journalists.
We have a republican movement that is explicitly supportive of genuine inclusion, seeks equality and demands transparency by state authorities. It does not support any faith but supports freedom to express one’s beliefs.
It seeks a republic to establish Ireland among the nations based on these principles. Set this vision against the unionist/loyalist vision.
Maybe it is time for the media to reflect on their own casual use of language in describing the electorate here.
MANUS McDAID
Derry city
