Joe Brolly scoffed at Edwin Poots but did not reveal his own beliefs on creation

There are journalists who seem to indulge a little in their own sense of superiority — by seemingly ridiculing the beliefs of others ie. a segment of Protestants in Northern Ireland.

My unpublished letter, which I sent to the editor of the Sunday Independent, Mr Alan English, on Tuesday, is a response to, what I consider, an example of this type of journalism. My letter reads:

“Joe Brolly Sunday Independent, May 2, (Why we need to keep shining a light on what the DUP stands for) tries to make out that Mr Edwin Poots (and presumably people like him) is naive, unlike of course, the erudite Mr Brolly. To show up Edwin’s backwardness, Joe Brolly writes: ‘Edwin believes the world was created in seven days ..’.

“Mr Brolly’s use, or perhaps misuse, of science to put down Mr Poots’ intellect and education, demonstrates a weakness in rigorous thinking.

“For example, there are three ways a person can approach an understanding of the existence of the universe — there is an intelligent omnipotent creator (who isn’t created); the universe, including ourselves and our planet, just happened by chance to come into being; or, we don’t have an explanation.

“If the first premise is accepted, then, the omnipotent intelligent creator (who by reason of being omnipotent is not bound by time, physical laws or any kind of restriction) could have brought the universe into existence in any which way, meaning that the seven days explanation is not naive.

“Other than scoffing at Mr Poots, Mr Brolly is somewhat coy about his own position on creation, and so we are not able to critique it, or make comparisons (shine a light on Joe).”

Micheál O’Cathail, By e-mail

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