Sir, - I do not know the profession of Dick Humphrey (November 21st) but I hope he is not a High Court judge. In his letter he states: "There are many clues pointing to the handiwork of the Creator. These proofs. . .are as valid. . ."
No reasonable person would describe Eddie Holt's response to Cardinal Connell (Weekend, November 10th) as an attack.
The impossibility of proving the existence of God is not simply a secular humanist proposition. I have heard many bishops acknowledge the fact, because God is a matter of faith. There have been many great philosophical and theological works written on the subject but, as I would not wish to burden Mr Humphrey with a lot of reading, I will simply recommend Hans Kung's Does God Exist?
Nobody has ever proved or disproved the existence of God. That itself is proof that it is not possible; so why criticise Eddie Holt?
Mr Humphrey goes on to state: "With prayer these proofs also help many people to strengthen their understanding of and faith in God". If there were proofs, faith would be unnecessary.
One could provide many definitions of prayer, but I'll provide only one. Prayer is a device whereby one seeks to convince oneself that what one wants to believe is true. That device frequently succeeds. Indeed, religious people tell me that when they have doubts, they pray.
It is not only in religious matters that the principle of self-delusion applies. Politicians frequently believe their own propaganda and salesmen frequently believe that the products they sell are the best in the world.
There is more to God and faith than meets Dick Humphrey's eye. - Yours, etc.,
Patrick A. McDonald, Glenageary Road Upper, Co Dublin.