Madam, - I would like to thank John Waters (Opinion, March 12th) for conceding that people like me, who reject religious dogma, can live full and meaningful lives without it.
I would hope that he can now extend this conclusion to note that societies which are largely free of organised religion, such as Sweden, Finland, Japan and Holland, have consistently lower indexes of social disorder (STDs, murder, teenage pregnancies, etc) than those which are not, such as the US or South Africa.
History shows that, far from courting the disaster which Mr. Waters sees, societies improve when they abandon the unquestioned dogmas and institutions which constrain them.
And that is hopeful for society, isn't it? - Yours, etc,
ROBIN HILLIARD, Westland Square, Dublin 2.