DIVERSITY EXISTS WTHOUT DIVINITY

This letter appears in today's Leicester Mercury (but not on its website):

Diversity exists without divinity

In his letter "Open your mind to a greater power" (August 11) Phil Dues asks us to open our spiritual eyes and wonder at the diversity of the world that we live in - animals, plants, trees, the sun and rain. He then suggests that these are proof than an omnipresent deity exists.

Al these essentials to life would of course exist without any divine assistance - in fact, without mankind's degradations they would all be healthier than they are now.

Finally, a question which I and many people have asked: Why does this all-seeing benevolent God allow tragic events such as natural disaster or innocent children to be killed? And please, spare me the usual platitudes about God working in mysterious ways. This tranlsates to me as "I don't know".

Don Tallis, Wigston