KAVANAGH'S comments on atheists (Pause for Thought, Daily Echo, December 30) were ill-informed, derogatory and patronising; vituperative is no substitute for well-reasoned argument in the debate about the existence or otherwise of a god.

Kavanagh has either not read Dawkin's substantive body of work including his most recent book The God Delusion or he does not understand it.

Precisely which of the numerous deities on offer in today's religion-riven world deserve my allegiance?

The Christian variety (or more accurately, varieties) or perhaps Mohammed or Buddha or, or...?

I do not spend my time trying to disprove the existence of gods no more so than I do flying elephants or orbiting china teapots; I am no less content because of this.

JAMES PARLOUR, Dibden Purlieu.