In his July 9 reply to my letter of June 27, Stanley Rice faulted me for too negative an assessment of religion, a criticism I accept as justified.

Rice pointed out what I knew but failed to state, i.e., that religion does have its redeeming values; but the list of values he presents is clearly that of a humanist, not a supernaturalist. In that respect, we agree. I believe the good that both religious and nonreligious people do finds its source in their own humanity.

Rice also faulted me for referring to Christianity as a “hydra-headed monster” of 33,820 denominations, but I maintain what I said. Didn’t the Apostle Paul insist there is but one faith (Ephesians 4:5)? The brute fact is, the doctrinal divisions among Christians are legion and hopelessly unfixable.

In another letter (July 2), David Theriault suggested that, in hopes of escaping eternal hellfire, I take a leap of faith and accept Jesus on the basis of his self-identification as incarnate God. But I see Jesus as a purely human apocalyptic preacher who was mistaken in teaching that this world and all its evils would end cataclysmically with the coming of the Kingdom of God in his very own generation (Mark 9:1).

Hellfire? If Theriault and those of his persuasion want to submit themselves to a God who consigns untold billions of finite human beings to an eternity of torment, he is all theirs to adore.

William LaRochelle, Lewiston