I am somewhat puzzled by David Beattie's argument in last week's Citizen letters.

It is conjecture if atrocities such as those by Pol Pot would have still occurred without religion, but what is definite is that they did occur despite religion, hardly an endorsement for a benevolent supernatural being. I could produce an equally impressive list of atrocities that happened in the name of religion, after all it wasn't that long ago that people were burnt alive because they believed in the wrong brand of Christianity.

This however misses Richard Dawkins' main point, which was that there is no evidence for some supernatural benevolent force controlling our destiny, an argument that was very convincing.

Unfortunately widespread religious belief is no evidence for the existence of such a deity.

Dr B Culpin

Bluebell Close

Whittle-le-Woods