UNLIKE Brian Regimbeau, I do not see such a big conflict between the beliefs of Christians and those of Humanists. Human beings are increasingly clever at explaining the elementary ways how the universe works, but are no nearer understanding why or where from than ever they were. God is a convenient shorthand for what we have still yet to learn. We have to leave to faith things we must do which have no better logical justification than that they are right.

Like Archbishop Carey, I would not trust the well-being and future of the world to a multitude of meddling monkeys guided only by their own limited moral and intellectual resources!

I do strive for life after death, which some people call posterity, not because if actually believe I will turn into a tiger (which, as likely as not, will be extinct) to get my own back and eat you all, but because I believe that everything I have touched or influenced for good or ill, will bear my imprint long after my body has rotted away.

The church has an enviable place in society - with beautiful buildings and loyal followers in nearly every village. The story of The Garden of Eden has already handed the responsibility for right and wrong to humans, and the Church is a perfectly appropriate pace to discuss what we must do next to make amends.

JEREMY MORFEY, Leigh.