In the Oxford Mail (September 8), Dr Taj Hargey writes about religious fanaticism, but what he is writing about is nothing new.
People in power, or trying to gain power, have been recorded as using religion as grounds for slaughtering people, for their own ends, since records began.
They usually claim that, if you fight for me against my enemies you are fighting for your god, and, if you get killed, you will be rewarded in the next life.
Religion has been used to support all sorts of dogmas, usually at the expense of new knowledge – something which kept Charles Darwin away from the church.
I had the feeling that, since Britain had become more secular it had become more tolerant. But, with the influx of more religious beliefs into the country, we seem to be reverting to the bad old days.
Derrick Holt
Fortnam Close,
Headington,
Oxford
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