Relative dispute

The scientific ignorance demonstrated by David G McKenzie (Letters, 5 March) is astonishing, but perhaps common.

Albert Einstein did not amend his equation about general relativity because he disliked the Big Bang origin.

At the time, the general belief, which he accepted, was that the universe was static.

Unfortunately, his equations required the universe either to be expanding or contracting (not static).

Consequently, he added a term to keep the universe static. It was only later, when it was shown that it is expanding, that he realised his “greatest mistake”.

G K Chesterton’s claim was always nonsense. Not believing in God is a step towards rational thought, not a path to believing in anything.

Steuart Campbell

Dovecot Loan

Edinburgh