Letters | 14 February 2013

Militant humanists

Sir: Thank God for Douglas Murray (‘Call off the faith wars’, 9 February). It is possible that I have been counting myself an atheist for longer than Richard Dawkins — if only because I am almost a decade older than he is. It is only fairly recently, though, that I began subscribing to the Humanist Association, of which Professor Dawkins has long been vice-president. I confess that I joined largely in the hope that membership might one day reduce the likelihood of some well-intentioned priest spouting mumbo-jumbo over my coffin.

Having signed up, I was faintly shocked by the ferocity of the humanist movement. I recognise, for example, that faith schools are intrinsically unfair, but I would be disinclined to deny parents their choice. The children will in any case make up their own minds later. (The world seems to be full of lapsed Catholics.) I cannot even get wound up by the prospect of a handful of bishops occupying seats in the House of Lords.