THE vicious conflicts in India between Hindu and Muslims, the sectarian attacks in Iraq between Sunni and Shia Muslims, the troubles in Northern Ireland, the disintegration of Yugoslavia and its descent into ethnic and religious conflict show the evil that can be generated by organised religion, but it has to be set against the good which tends to occur on a smaller scale.

The difficulty with all religions is that all are based on faith, on believing without any evidence as to the truth of the beliefs, and that each believes it alone has access to the real truth.

All religions seem to be based upon "holy books" and personal messages from a "god", yet are in conflict with each other. The "holy books" were written centuries ago and have been translated by interested parties, giving rise to endless arguments.

This leads to the attitude that if you do not believe what I believe, then I am justified in punishing, or even killing, you for your disbelief.

I would suggest if there are 1,000 religions, 999 must be wrong and that it is more than likely that all 1,000 are wrong. If not, how would one determine which was the true one?

Eric Gendle, Nunthorpe, Middesbrough