Dear Editor,

Ms. Sandra Khan stridently denounces the United Nations for not getting more actively involved in the Middle East conflict (SN March 4.) She berates the US and the rich for taking advantage of the poor. Her letter admirably portrays the yearnings of human beings who desire fairness and peace.

Ms. Khan believes that the US cannot broker peace and somehow uses this assumption to posit that no human effort can bring about peace. Her alternative: We "can only look to God for help." Fine, so we'll just sit and pray. But to who's God?

"To those who do not believe in God, it is probably best not to understand for ignorance is bliss," Ms. Khan charges. And again she is right. A disbelief is God not only brings bliss it brings peace also. Indeed, I am still waiting to hear of massacres committed by atheists.

How I wonder, would believers be able to bring peace when the record shows that devoted believers will often kill each other over differences in doctrine or authority, and they oppose each other on issues concerning public morality: some are for and some against capital punishment, war or peace, the rights of women, minorities, euthanasia, sexual freedom, etc. Dogmatic religious doctrines especially set people against each other, leading to hypocrisy, greed, policies of retribution and punishment, chauvinism, and pride, rather than an empathetic moral regard for the needs of others.