S POPE’S letter (HAS, Apr 24) seems to ignore the fact that the god which helped create the British Empire was the gun. We used it to enslave millions of people across the planet, mainly to deprive them of their natural resources. Many Christians believed that most of these people were nothing more than savages and/or an animal subspecies and, therefore, it was appropriate to hold dominion over them.

The one thing that history shows is that all great powers disappear in time. Where now are the Mayan, Inca and Comanche of the Americas, the Egyptian dynasties, the Roman legions, the Mogul and Ottoman Empires? All gone. They died by stretching their resources, being overcome by force, or more rarely, by assimilation, as happen to the Saxons following the Norman conquest.

The societies we have and live in now will burn brightly for a number of years. But rest assured, like a candle, they will eventually splutter and be extinguished.

And this will not be stopped by any particular belief in any one god or different beliefs in the same god.

B Jackson, Sacriston.