Robin Dunbar’s article (The big idea: do we still need religion?, 28 March) outlines the scientifically measurable benefits of religion. After two years of the pandemic, when our collective physical health has been prioritised, it is now time to focus on these benefits to our spiritual health.
Though Dunbar states that religion is not going anywhere, most congregations have been shrinking for decades. Most churches in Britain today would be flabbergasted if 150 people turned up on Sundays. In order to offer community that works for most people, churches must evolve.
The benefits of religion that Dunbar explains – community cohesion, greater trust, greater happiness – will be vital as we crawl out of the pandemic, and if we are to navigate the climate crisis.
Evolution is part of the DNA of Unitarian churches, which are open to wisdom from all sources, and practise free inquiry into faith and belief, rather than all conforming to a single doctrine.
Religion is here to stay – but we must adapt it to what is needed and what works for us right now. Unitarians don’t have that finished version yet – but anyone joining us can be part of creating it.
Liz Slade
Chief officer, General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches
• Robin Dunbar’s article is a terrific analysis of the perks of religion, but misses its core: the bathwater is described in detail, while the baby is nowhere. Yes, it’s good to know that the rituals release endorphins, that “religious people” are happier, healthier and live longer, and that the “community cohesion” of a faith group leads to social bonding, and thus to survival. So, great. Join a community choir.
At the heart of faith is the longing to know the unknowable and endlessly mysterious infinite often called God. Yes, church is important, but more important for me is prayer, often alone and silent.
Quakers call it waiting on God or listening for the inner voice, but it doesn’t really matter what you call it. The certainty that it’s not all about me or us, that there is something more, something transcendent that occasionally is glimpsed and transforms everything – that is the reason faith survives.
Joanna Hodgkin
London
• Do we still need religion? If we follow the Bible’s definition – to look out for needy people and to have integrity (James 1:27) – then yes, we definitely need it.
Robert Chamberlain
Ingleby Barwick, North Yorkshire
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