Sir, – Declan Kelly (September 29th) is wrong to claim that "these writings [religious scriptures] are never edited, never reviewed, never brought into line with new discoveries about the universe and human nature".
The fact is (I write as a former professor of biblical studies) that there are thousands of scholars and hundreds of university and other third-level places of education with departments dedicated to the scholarly study of scriptures, their origins, their historical meaning and development, and their modern interpretation. They are equally dedicated to editing, reviewing, and relating their work to new discoveries about the universe and human nature, as witnessed by an enormous number of books, journals, radio and television programmes and other media publications.
Young people in schools and universities are endlessly encouraged to search for truth, in religious as in other matters.
If there is a problem in this area, it lies with religious leaders and teachers who do not do their homework and who perhaps fear, unnecessarily, where the search for truth may lead. – Yours, etc,
JOHN BARTLETT,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.