R. Hall, said: ‘ . . . They sang about the goodness of God, coming upon all of us . . . everywhere’ (Letters, December 24, 'Angels had the message').

However, if you read a paper or listens to or look at the news, you will see we have been inundated recently with tales of terror, outrage, mayhem, death and destruction.

Now you might argue (and I have indeed heard the argument) that God gave man free will, and if the latter should abuse that gift, then it’s not God’s fault. Well, did God give free will to the murderer, but take away the free will of the deceased? Did God give free will to the rapist, but take away the free will of the victim? Did God give free will to Hitler, but take away the free will of the 60 million or so people who died as a result?

But even if you can accept that doctrine, it has to be allowed that the world is a pretty cruel place. I’m not talking here about ‘Man’s inhumanity to Man’, but the natural world.

Every minute of every hour of every day animals are being eaten alive, disembowelled, torn limb from limb, beheaded, having their eyes pecked out, having parasites hatch out within them to eat them from the inside out – in short, animals are dying in misery, agony and squalor all the time. What sort of God would create a world like that – or, rather, this?

John Forder

Endmoor