Today’s letters to The Courier.
Sir, From 1 January 2012 the EU will charge international airlines a carbon tax on flights to Europe.
Chai Haibo, deputy secretary general of the China Air transport Association, is furious and said that, other than Europe, no other countries support this punitive tax.
The Chinese state-owned news agency, Xinhua, said: ”This is a trade barrier in the name of environmental protection, but it constitutes an attack on the interests of travellers and the international aviation industry and it will be difficult to avoid a trade war.”
Alex Salmond wants Scotland to be an independent country and a voice in the EU.
Scotland exports thousands of tonnes of salmon to China and recently it was announced, to great fanfare, that £69 million of whisky had been exported in only nine months.
Mr Salmond wants closer links with China and the EU but having both seems highly unlikely.
Will Alex Salmond back Europe and thus fall out with China and then see his exports hit by a trade war?
An interesting dilemma.
Clark Cross.138 Springfield Road,Linlithgow.
They are all dangerous
Sir, Messrs McMillan and Thomson miss the point. All belief systems are inherently dangerous; after all, if one is acting on behalf of God, whichever God that may be, one logically can be doing no wrong.
History has shown us that human beings were regularly sacrificed in the name of religion and beheaded or burnt at the stake for apostasy.
Even today Muslim fanatics are causing carnage because of their belief systems.
In the twenty-first century, over 150 years since Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species and with scientific advances that he could only dream about, humanity should really be looking beyond religion.
Religion can be a force for good but, alas, it can also be a force for evil.
Personally, I subscribe to no belief system, so I’ll just continue to put my pillow slip up beside the mantle-piece so Santa can fill it with goodies. And with any luck, come spring, the Easter Bunny will bring a nice chocolate Easter egg.
Jim Robertson.194 High Street,Montrose.
Uncorroborated primitive tales
Sir, I fear for Philip Kearns (Letters, December 22) if he seriously believes as fact the uncorroborated ‘miracle’ tales told by primitive tribal peoples in the Middle East some 2,000 years ago.
Were it not for an accident of Roman politics in the fourth century, and a Roman emperor bored beyond belief by sectarianism, Mr Kearns would still be worshipping Jupiter!
In any case, a supposed further revelation of the god of the Abrahamic faiths in the seventh century told us, apparently, that Jesus was not divine, was not the son of ‘god’ and was not resurrected.
In that case, as an ordinary mortal, he could not have performed any ‘miracles’ such as those of the ancient myths.
I wish Mr Kearns all the best wishes of the ancient Winter Solstice, corrupted and usurped as it was by Christianity for its own devious ends!
Alistair McBay.Lawmuirview,Methven.
Clutching at straws
Sir, Dr Stephen Moreton is clutching at straws when he speaks of the ‘dramatic decline in church attendance in the Western world’ as indicating that Christianity is an ideology that is being discarded (Letters, December 26).
The rapid growth of the church in China, Korea, Africa and South America would rather indicate the opposite.
In terms of the Western world Dr Moreton is somewhat out of date the United States remains one of the most church-going countries in the world.
For decades Western secularists have been announcing the ‘death of God’. Indeed in 2000 the Economist magazine published an obituary for God in its millenial edition. In 2007 they were compelled to issue an apology entitled ‘God returns to Europe’.
It is the stubborn refusal of Christianity to die, and the increasing interest amongst young people, that has prompted the New Atheism to come out with increasingly vehement attacks upon Christianity, and the kind of wishful thinking expressed in Dr Moreton’s letter.
Locally, in Dundee there are several lively and growing churches which indicate that rumours of the death of Christianity are somewhat premature.
David A. Robertson.Solas Centre for Public Christianity.St Peter’s Free Church,4 St Peter Street,Dundee.
The kindness of Dundonians
Sir, On Thursday December 22 I had a bad fall down steps at Lloyds TSB in Albert Square. A very kind lady phoned for an ambulance as I had injured my right shoulder and was unable to get up. A young man also stopped and was most attentive.
I was offered a coat in case I was cold by the young man selling the Big Issue; a nurse offered assistance, as did several other passers-by and an employee from the bank offered me a blanket.
I can only thank them most sincerely for their kindness. It shows Dundonians have big hearts and do care for others.
All the help was greatly appreciated by me and my husband. And the paramedics could not have been more attentive.
I will always be grateful to everyone.
Violet Thomson.Glamis.
Get involved: to have your say on these or any other topics, email your letter to letters@thecourier.co.uk or send to Letters Editor, The Courier, 80 Kingsway East, Dundee DD4 8SL.