Religion not the cause of our sins

HYLAND (Irish Examiner letters, September 7) hails the “decline of religion” as the primary cause of “a great many positive changes” in Ireland over the past number of decades.

He links religion with narrow-mindedness, bigotry and an almost Stalinist form of control and domination of ordinary citizens.

Suggesting that religion in itself leads to these things is absurd. Religion is a philosophy of life, and the vast majority of religions are built on a foundation of a certain degree of tolerance, peace, and love - Christianity certainly is.