Sir, – It is not unexpected to hear Pope Francis denounce the latest series of atrocities, in particular the unconscionable murder of a priest at his work.
However, the Pope is wrong when he states that these and other events have nothing to do with religion. We know all too well from our own history the results of inter-Christian factionalism. We also know from world history that most local conflicts have religion somewhere in the background.
I am reminded of the phrase attributed to the Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg: “In an ordinary moral universe, good people will do the best they can, bad people will do the worst they can, but if you want good people to do wicked things you are going to need religion.”
– Yours, etc,
JIM BRILLY
Dublin 8.
A chara, – Imam Ibrahim Noonan (Letters, July 27th) questions if it is “right for the media to keep using such words such as “Islamic State” or “Muslim terrorists” every time an unacceptable incident happens?”, suggesting that the perpetrators are no longer practising Muslims.
Should mainstream Islam not have acted sooner to ostracise the hard-liners that went on to form al-Qaeda and subsequently the Islamic State also known as Isis (founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi)? Should mainstream Islam, even now, ostracise the high-profile supporters of Isis in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey?
Is it not time that the leaders of Sunni Islam urged their followers to stop killing Shia Muslims, and vice versa? Is it not time for all leaders of Islam to act rather than trying to blame “the media” for reporting the violence?
– Is mise,
GREG SCANLON,
Shannon,
Co Clare.
Sir, – Your front-page headline yesterday read “FBI warns of increased Islamic violence in Europe”. However violence is never “Islamic” – any more than the IRA’s violence was Roman Catholic. – Yours, etc,
VICTORIA WHITE
Clonskeagh,
Dublin 14.