Editor:

This is in response to John Keisling's column ("God brings peace and comfort," April 17). Existence of god and his (?) role in the universe are questions that some of the best minds in philosophy have reflected upon, and they are not easy questions at all. While the range of arguments here can be very wide, the one of peace and comfort is irresponsible and naive, to say the least.

A lot of things bring people peace and comfort, including alcohol and marijuana. Not only these substances provide short-term tranquility, but they also can cause the user to feel enlightened while under their influence and give him the impression that he understands the meaning of life itself. And then he runs out of money and has to face the real world. True, you don't need money to convince yourself that a god plays an important everyday role in your life. You can sustain that belief and the feeling of peace that comes from it as long as you wish. However, that in itself does not guarantee that the world you are living in and your moral and ontological constructs are any less artificial than those of a drug addict.

This last statement is not intended to offend the feelings of Christians on this campus. Rather, its point is that something is not necessarily true just because it gives you self-confidence. And it is not a matter of "proof" but common intellectual honesty that one be able to look at the world even though "it no longer comforts, nor saves, nor constrains."

Konstantin Momot
chemistry graduate student