To: politics.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk
Re: Christianity is "holy" inadequate for 21st Century
Date: Tuesday 21 December 04

Dear Madeleine (Ms Bunting),

"The Catholic church has a vital role to play in 21st-century life", you say in yesterday's Guardian (Paralysed by panic).

I disagree. I think that 17 hundred years (or whatever it is) of the Catholic Church and of Christianity in general is enough.

The role they played in the development of western civilisation was so great that it is impossible to imagine what it would be like without them. Whether we would have been better or worse off it is impossible to say. But what can be said, I think, is that they are "holy" inadequate to meet the spiritual needs of the 21 Century. Worse, they are obscuring the view for many people of far more enlightened and useful concepts of God and religion.

You might like to take a look at an alternative I'm working on: An Atheist's and Agnostic's Guide to God.