If Rolf Burnie, in Christian ­comment, has found things in the Christian story that have helped him become a less self-centred person, he would not be alone in that. However, there are many different paths to ‘greater good’, and his ­assertion that Christianity has “utterly altered the world for good” is perhaps wishful ­thinking.

Has Christianity brought peace to the world? Has it made us less selfish?

Christianity prospered because the Romans adopted

it to unify their empire. A ­succession of European empires did the same – conquest, slaughter, plunder, slavery and empire building, all by good Christians.

And now the US-led Western alliance continues its highly profitable warmongering (though it pays lip service to international peace and justice). In the light of the global climate crisis, the waste and destruction is insane.

In fairness, it would perhaps be unreasonable to expect any organised religion to speak against the empire it inhabits. Rolf should reflect that, had he been born in a different part of the world, he would as likely be seeking to promote a different faith.

If you have a faith that gives you strength to work with ­others to try to make the world better, then that’s great; but if you feel the need to assert the superiority of that faith over others, then I suggest that it is perhaps not as healthy a faith as you think.

Piers Maddox

Jubilee Road, Totnes