Professor McNulty (Crisis of confidence, Letters, August 16) with an assurance which is staggering, romps through the educational biological, political and philosophical sciences to arrive where? What in plain words is she saying? Is she providing an explanation for the origin of “homo sapiens - a creature of free will”?

READ MORE: Letter: The West is having a crisis of confidence

She is dogmatic that whatever point she is making it will not “invoke religious explanations”. Her certitude in this matter would close down any real “objective and self-reflective thinking”. It may disappoint her but objective and reflective thinking can accept religious and spiritual factors in human thinking to provide answers to our origins. The human mind is not the measure of the universe, of that we may be certain. We are incapable of finding infallible explanations for our origins. All explanations fail because they cannot be verified, they are all acts of faith.

The first three chapters of the book of Genesis in the Bible provide an account of how the God of the Bible explains how he created the heavens and the earth and all things therein. Like all other accounts it rests on faith. It is not a blind unintelligent faith. The story in Genesis is a mirror of the actual world in which we live and have our being. It explains man’s nature, his accountability and his freedom to choose his own destiny.

The loss of certainty in the present climate comes from the betrayal of religious leaders and thinkers who have capitulated to the scientific sociological and economic theories, which do not always reflect reality. It is the acceptance of these philosophies which confuse ordinary people that have caused a crisis of confidence in the modern world.

They have opened the floodgates of violence, cruelty and hate into the world. The evidence of this is found each week in this newspaper The Watford Observer, its records of crimes of the vilest nature perpetrated on innocent children, adults and the aged. People are attacked randomly by others whom they do not even know.

One fact is incontrovertible. If children and youth are not taught the difference between right and wrong, hate and respect, violence and peace, it is unlikely they will grow into normal adults. Without religious guidance, which teaches these virtues and accountability for our behaviour, they will have a crisis not only of confidence but life satisfaction.

Patrick Boyle

Garston Drive, Watford