Letter: Mind games

I FAIL to understand what Bruce Crichton thinks Marxism has to do with the argument that purely material brains cannot manifest genuine free will (Letters, 11 February).

If our mind is just the product of physical processes, a rapist is no more morally responsible for his crime than a computer is for crashing. If we want to retain any concept of retribution in our system of justice, we must concede that our mind involves processes that transcend the material world.

No matter how many times I read it, I marvel at the Olympian feat of mental gymnastics that claims that the fiercely anti-religious rationalist Marxism of the last century does not besmirch the record of atheism because it was actually like a religion.

Communism's ultimate faith was in the human reason of its intellectual elite, exactly what many atheists recommend today. As a Christian, I also value human reason and recommend its employment, but I also recognise the need for divine guard rails to prevent it from leading into abuses.

RICHARD LUCAS

Broomyknowe

Colinton, Edinburgh