Sir, – Robert Canning asks if worship in a church is essential in the eye of a pandemic. (Courier, January 14).
Firstly, he is correct that a Christian believes that God is always with them. However, to obtain all the necessary food for the Christian’s soul, church is essential.
I am sure Mr Canning would not live long if he had no bodily nourishment for several weeks.
Christians go to church to receive the spiritual food of the soul, without which they cannot sustain the spiritual warfare that every human needs to win and go to God at the end of life.
Regards the value of religion to a nation perhaps we should look at the former Soviet Union now Russia.
Before the collapse of Marxist communism, the people were blocked from religious practice.
Since the fall of the Berlin wall Russia has gone from a few hundred churches (mainly retained as museums) to 37,000 as the people reacted to years of religious oppression.
Christians in the past and present pray for those affected by plague/pandemic at home, in parks and in churches.
The Passion Play in Oberammergau every 10 years is in answer to the village being spared from the plague after many fervent prayers.
Christians need access to churches for the sake of our immortal souls.
Philip J Kearns.
Grove Road, Dundee.
Forth tunnel surely cannot be serious
Sir, – I refer to the report (Dig this! Greens’ plan for Forth rail tunnel, Courier, January 13) by Aileen Robertson.
Once I had checked that it wasn’t April 1 I realised that it was a serious proposal.
I am glad to read it has been rejected by the council.
I doubt that it can be built for the estimate and what is not mentioned is the source of the funding and the annual maintenance cost.
If they want to provide more capacity on the East Coast line then longer and more frequent trains would be the logical cheaper and more effective answer, which could be delivered more quickly.
It would be interesting to hear what those who work on the railway think.
Alf Small.
Claypotts Terrace,
Broughty Ferry.
Crass rather than class for Rees-Mogg
Sir, – When it comes to politicians making crass remarks, Boris Johnson is always hard to beat but Jacob Rees-Mogg did just that.
When it was pointed out to Mr Rees-Mogg that severe ‘red-tape’ problems caused by Brexit (something the prime minister had vowed to prevent) were stopping Scottish fishermen in Eyemouth and the west coast from getting their catch out of the country for export and therefore jeopardising their livelihoods, his disdainful response was “we have our fish back. They are now British fish and better and happier for it.”
Not a shred of concern for the welfare of these fishermen and their families.
I suppose though, if you have a net worth of over £150 million and received an estimated £800,000 in dividends last year, money worries about being able to feed your children and pay the rent/mortgage are always going to be someone else’s!
Alan Woodcock.
Osborne Place,
Dundee.
Doing nothing is a deliberate SNP ploy
Sir, – The letter from Alistair Ballantyne (Tone deaf to the plight of Scottish fishing post-Brexit, Courier, January 15) is a bit over the top and unbalanced. Everyone knew Brexit was an inevitability before it became reality on December 31.
The problem with temporary delays appears to be incomplete paperwork for seafood exports.
So my point is that instead of simply sniping at the UK Government, Mr Ballantyne should be asking himself what the leaders of the fishing industry and Fergus Ewing have being doing to prepare for the inevitable?
Or is it perhaps a deliberate ploy of the SNP to do nothing so that negative outcomes can be blamed on the UK Government, and thereby strengthen the idealistic cause of independence?
Derek Farmer.
Knightsward Farm,
Anstruther.
