It's sad and irritating to see the shoddy thinking of apologists like Allen S. Thorpe (Readers' Forum, May 27). After first admitting some ignorance, he glibly states that faith in a nebulous unknown causes a rational argument.
Archie Bunker is credited with having said, "Faith is something you believe that nobody in his right mind would believe."
Here are Mr. Thorpe's real words: "I'm not sure what atheists believe, other than that there is no God, but without faith in something greater beyond this life, it's pretty tough to give a reasoned argument for a number of virtues." Many readers, no doubt, see such a statement and nod in agreement. There's a ring of truth; we've heard similar slogans before.
A second point — the faulty assertion that altruism and self-sacrifice work against Darwinian selection is shopworn, old fashioned and wrong. Our schools are impotent and strangled by Bush's faith basis.
Harald Illig
Salt Lake City