Letter: Religious intolerance

When Sir Harry Kroto (100 Years of the Nobel, THES , December 21/28) wishes to be virulent about people who believe in their country and their God, he should take care to be informed about the public actions of their leaders.

Within days of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, a prominent Muslim writer, Ziauddin Sardar, published an article in the United Kingdom calling for a "fatwa" outlawing from Islam the xenophobic fanaticism that leads to the murder of people living in societies that free some to think, speak and act as they wish, even to the detriment of others.

A higher value than unfettered freedom, favouring the underprivileged, was taught by Jesus Christ - shown also in the New Testament to be the "global patriot" Kroto calls for.

David Booth
Birmingham