Roots of violence
Damian Howard’s excellent attempt to unravel “the tangled roots of violence” feeding atrocities perpetrated in the name of religion, in particular Islam, (“The Pope in Egypt”, 29 April) arrives at a frustrating conclusion: violence as a form of evil “has no cause”.

Howard’s spiritualisation of religious violence as “chaotic absence” (invoking the mystical writings of the 5th century neo-Platonist, Dionysius) can be illuminated, I believe, by insights from religious psychology.

In order to survive, all religions require a submissive disposition from adherents, e.g. obedience to religious texts, to religious traditions and/or religious teachers. Individual conscience must surrender to corporate norms if a religious institution is to have historical longevity. Some faiths require blind submission, resulting in the assassination or violation of individual conscience; other faiths encourage conscientious assent, i.e. submission consistent with the dictates of private conscience.