Letter: Those meaningful - and elusive - questions about the existence of God

Sir: Bryan Appleyard, discussing the Sea of Faith, claims that 'Western science has been eating into the physical, cosmological and biological foundations of Western faith for almost 500 years'. Has not 'Western science' been an essential part of 'Western faith' for almost 2,500 years?

He asks, 'What about the Western God?', and replies that 'two things are clear', one of which is that 'monotheism has been the defining force of Western civilisation'. Whatever does that mean, and, whatever it does mean, is it true?

Similarly, he insists that religious faith is 'that which made us what we are'. Has not rational doubt also helped to make us that which we are, ever since we began to be?

Yours sincerely,

NICOLAS WALTER

Humanist Centre

London, WC1

3 August