Religious killings

I did not blame multiculturalism for honour killings, as Mark Boyle suggested (Letters, 22 December), but merely discussed its possible role in preventing the issue being addressed fully in Britain.

The blame rests with a mindset that is either purely cultural, or may have some roots in Islamic teaching. The fact that Muslims in some parts of the world do not indulge in such murders is inconclusive – maybe they are neglecting an aspect of the Islamic tradition. I don't know the answer, but I am frustrated when such questions are closed down prematurely by well-meaning pluralists who believe, in the teeth of copious evidence, that all religions are, at heart, benign expressions of the same underlying spirituality.

The contrasting lives of Jesus and Mohammed, and the Islamic attempts to neutralise the gospels' portrayal of Jesus, make it clear that all religions are not singing from the same hymn sheet.

RICHARD LUCAS

Cowan Road

Edinburgh