silverguide.site –

I read Andrew Copson’s letter with interest (There is no revival of Christianity in Britain, 5 April). But he implies a dichotomy that is questionable, and also that humanists and Christians have little or nothing in common.

He writes “the search for meaning is not found in dogma, but in the humanist values of reason, kindness and personal responsibility”. But that is what most, if not all, people who say they are Christian also believe. The last part of the sentence is at the heart of all Christ’s teaching. Another point is that many humanists are very good at that part. And indeed many of them are far more Christ-ian than many Christians are.

I find myself encouraged by data about the opinions and beliefs of the 16- to 34-year-olds in Britain. They seem to be supportive of everything that Jesus taught in his Sermon on the Mount. Whether they say they are religious or not doesn’t matter at all.
Graham Mytton
Coldharbour, Surrey

• Andrew Copson would do well to ask how many of the six in 10 young people identifying as non‑religious are regularly attending Humanist UK meetings. Or, for that matter, how the humanists arrived at the values of reason, kindness and personal responsibility. They, like the universe, did not appear unbidden from a vacuum.
Sam Morris
Cambridge

• I was saddened to read Andrew Copson’s frustration regarding the treatment of “the non-religious as a demographic absence”. Certainly I, and the people I rub shoulders with, do not behave like this.

An ordinary Anglican Christian, with a graduate diploma in theology, ministry and mission, my gentle, deep and inclusive faith is not, as he suggests, and understandably dislikes, a way of life based on “dogma”. Rather, I share the values he stands for and by – which are equally central to a traditional Church of England understanding of Christianity. I’m hopeful we would find more common ground than he realises if we sat down to talk together.

I also already regard the community he belongs to as of “equal standing in the public square”, for ethical purposes – and I trust he reciprocates my respect.
Rosemary Livingstone
Biscoitos, Azores, Portugal

• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.