Christianity is counter-cultural

I refer to Lorraine Courtney’s article ‘I am an atheist but I believe Dáil prayer is an acceptable fact of our national Catholic culture’ (Irish Independent ,May 4). While I accept the general argument that there is no harm in saying prayers in the Dáil, I disagree with the central contention regarding cultural Catholicism. At its heart, Christianity is counter-cultural. The central tenet ‘love God and love your neighbour’ is beyond culture.

Nominal religion explains the religious wars, the ransacking of Latin America, the Inquisition and even the Magdalene Laundries in our own time. Naomi Kloss Coolballow, Co Wexford