The Editor, Sir:

Pastor Casely Brown writes in The Sunday Gleaner (October 26): "One of mankind's biggest problems is that it has no idea how limited it is in knowledge compared to God."

Yet, If he is a part of mankind, then we must assume that his own knowledge of God is also limited.

As the likes of Bertrand Russell, A.J. Ayer and others have pointed out, if we are unable to understand God, it is very likely that we will talk nonsense when we talk about Him.

So, on what basis can he or any of us conclude that the numerous atrocities carried out in the name of God are to be taken as corrective measures? Are we to believe that an omnipotent and just God could not find a more humane method to rehabilitate mankind?

If any human being behaved in the way God allegedly does in the Old Testament, he would be tried as a war criminal in The Hague.

It reminds me of a series of three bits of graffiti that I saw above the urinals at the University of Calgary, some three decades ago.

The first one said 'God is dead' (signed) Nietzsche. The second said 'Nietzche is dead', signed God'.

Beneath that, the third said, 'God isn't dead, He is hiding in Argentina.'

This is why politicians need to take a strictly secular approach to making decisions. The short- and long-term consequences of applying or not applying capital punishment should be the only guiding principles here.

It should not be based on mythology, epiphany nor revelation. Those methods are much less reliable than human reason and empirical evidence.

I am, etc.,

R. HOWARD THOMPSON

roi_anne@hotmail.com

Rockton, Waltham

Mandeville