Good, bad and opinions

Sir, - Ron Aitken (February 23) is right that good morals don’t depend on religion. In truth, the latter arose from the former, not vice-versa. It was easier for rulers to persuade people their ideas had a supernatural origin than to reason with them.

All religions are human inventions.

The word morality comes from the Latin mores, meaning customs. Whether these are good or bad is a matter of opinion, which varies between areas and over time, even within one religion.

This is seen with Judaism in the Hebrew scriptures. God’s behaviour changes radically over time.

It also happened with Christianity. Its founder, Paul, told slaves to obey their masters and deemed women inferior to men.

There is no reason to suppose that he, Jesus or the evangelists thought differently or rejected the tenets of Leviticus and Deuteronomy as to morals and punishments.

Ever since, Christians have disagreed (often violently) on ethics as well as theology.

As late as the 19th Century many, including Anglicans, Catholics and Presbyterians, supported slavery because the Bible condones it. They continued to oppose equal rights for women long afterwards. Some still do.

Disagreements on current issues abound. The Russian church says Putin was sent by God and most of its members fully support his ideas and actions. Their predecessors fully supported tyranny and persecution of Jews.

European Christians are deeply divided over the refugee crisis. Millions of American Protestants want Donald Trump to be president yet the Pope says his ideas are not Christian, at all. Many Christians here agree. Euan Bremner. 115 Minto Street, Edinburgh.