Body of belief
Sir: Myles Harris must do more than repeat misleading clichés (`Out of the body', 10 December). Certainly, Einstein never accepted the uncertainty principle but it's wrong to say that nuclear explo- sions (which happened ten years before his death) proved him wrong. Nuclear explo- sions, if anything, verify his equation E=mc2 derived from special relativity. And Galileo didn't end his days in prison: though mildly punished by the Inquisition (mainly for his violently abusive way of arguing), he was not jailed at all. Britons, in a few months, will be serving longer sentences for what they write (under the new secrets legislation) than Galileo ever did. And what's all the talk about a priest living in a cell? Catholic priests, in my experience, live in rectories smoking heavi- ly and eating starchy teas and much the same goes, I believe, for Anglican clergy.
What does it prove that some eminent scientists also believe some mumbo- jumbo? Is spiritualism valid because Sir Oliver Lodge preached it? Come to that, there are far more scientists who are Christians than believe in 'out-of-body' nonsense, but no one cites them as a proof of the truth of Christianity. Mr Harris says that some unconscious people report seeing Christ or Vishnu: if Christians saw Vishnu or vice versa there would be something worth examination, but it seems clear that they only see what is already part of their mental universe. The fact is that near-death isn't death and nothing people report from such a state can have any probative value with regard to an after-life.
George Stern
6 Eton Court, 6 Shepherd's Hill, London N6
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