On Thu, 05 Feb 2004 10:27:25 GMT in alt.atheism, Elroy Willis (Elroy
Willis <elo@airmail.net>) said, directing the reply to alt.atheism

Therion Ware <autodelete@city-of-dis.com> wrote in alt.atheism

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,59-989753,00.html

There's something of a debate going on in the Times (London) letters
column. Perhaps I can persuade you to contribute!

Looks like it costs money to access the above article.

No. The Times is free on the net. I don't recall a registration
either. What message are you getting?

Anyway the text of the letters runs thus, and they can be replied to
at: letters - obviousspamblock - @ thetimes.co.uk

Include an address and phone number. The letters editor is so refined
it is untrue!

Churches and belief
From the Reverend Francis Gardom



Sir, Mr Terry Sanderson of the National Secular Society (letter,
January 26) suggests that the opposite of belief is unbelief (itself a
belief). I suggest it is doubt.

Doubt is far more prevalent in contemporary society than unbelief. It
can have many causes, the most frequent being lazy-mindedness.

For every one person who sincerely believes that "death closes all"
(Ulysses, Tennyson, 1842) there are a hundred who just can't be
bothered to give the matter the serious thought it deserves.

Elroy Willis said, directing the reply to alt.atheism

Therion Ware <autodelete@city-of-dis.com> wrote in alt.atheism

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,59-989753,00.html
There's something of a debate going on in the Times (London) letters
column. Perhaps I can persuade you to contribute!

Looks like it costs money to access the above article.

No. The Times is free on the net. I don't recall a registration
either. What message are you getting?

Anyway the text of the letters runs thus, and they can be replied to
at: letters - obviousspamblock - @ thetimes.co.uk
Include an address and phone number. The letters editor is so refined
it is untrue!
Churches and belief
From the Reverend Francis Gardom
Sir, Mr Terry Sanderson of the National Secular Society (letter,
January 26) suggests that the opposite of belief is unbelief (itself a
belief). I suggest it is doubt.
Doubt is far more prevalent in contemporary society than unbelief. It
can have many causes, the most frequent being lazy-mindedness.
For every one person who sincerely believes that “death closes all”
(Ulysses, Tennyson, 1842) there are a hundred who just can’t be
bothered to give the matter the serious thought it deserves. Whether
they are wise to treat it so is, of course, altogether another
question.
Yours faithfully,
FRANCIS GARDOM,
79 Maze Hill, Greenwich, SE10 8XQ.
January 26.
From the Reverend Eurof H. Richards
Sir, The Vice-President of the National Secular Society suggests that
the decline in church attendance is the result of non-belief.
I have conducted over 300 funerals in the past ten years, and in 80
per cent of those the families were not church attenders. I can assure
Mr Sanderson that their belief was palpable.
Yours faithfully,
EUROF H. RICHARDS,
16 Pantglas,
Gorseinon, Swansea SA4 6BJ.
January 26.