Disbelief isn’t a virtue

Re “How many non- believers?” Opinion, March 4

John Allen Paulos has done what most would consider impossible: He has separated mathematics from logic. To begin with, he conflates atheism with agnosticism, a cause du jour for atheists attempting to bolster their numbers. Later, Paulos conflates again the assumption that nonbelief in a conventional god is aligned with the cause of atheism. Disbelief and honest doubt are not signs of bravery; they are signs of disbelief and honest doubt. Let us hope that Paulos serves the students at Temple University better than he serves his advocacy of atheism.

Jeff Kiser

Mission Viejo

I find it tragic that Paulos quotes poet William Butler Yeats to make lack of conviction a virtue. Throughout Western history, it has been conviction, not its absence, that has been virtuous. John F. Kennedy’s “Profiles in Courage” was about political leaders who did what they thought was right, albeit unpopular. Yet it seems that what Paulos values is uncertainty for its own sake -- a sort of intellectual anarchy. Ultimately, it seems to me that it depends on how one applies one’s faith. If the atoms that make up this newspaper have always existed, then they are eternal. If they haven’t always existed, then they had a beginning that had to be caused by something. Thus we either believe in the impersonal eternal or the personal eternal. Paulos wants to make uncertainty about the existence of this Someone a virtue. Uncertainty, indecisiveness, lack of confidence, hesitation -- I fail to see the virtue.

Mitchell E. Harris

La Verne

The report that religious believers distrust atheists and agnostics in America today is hardly surprising. Christianity is the dominant religion in the U.S. Many groups under the umbrella of this grand religion claim that their believers stake exclusive claim to salvation in the world to come. Holding this core belief does not usually lead the believer to a position of tolerance toward others who hold opposing religious or nonreligious viewpoints.

Elliot Fein

Trabuco Canyon