From Dr Gautam Pingle.

Sir, It is very saddening to read Gavin Turner’s response (November 7) to Thomas Granchi’s letter on Christian sectarian violence in the England of Elizabeth I.

Intolerance bred by the monotheism of the People of the Book – mostly Christian and Muslim – in their mutual and conflicting wars and quest for world domination embroiled mankind in hatred and massacres of each other and “the other” over the past 1,700 years. Even today, we see the baleful effects of residual monotheism and its apocalyptic vision.

Fortunately, in some parts of this troubled planet the polytheistic tendency, with its signal notion encouraging inclusion, seems to be gaining ground and legitimacy – after its long nightmare – in the guise of secularism.

Gautam Pingle,
Dean of research and consultancy director,
Center for Public Policy and Governance,
Administrative Staff College of India,
Hyderabad, India