Sir: Quintin Hogg probably did more to drive home Kenneth
Allsop's point than Mr Allsop himself (21 June). His reply to Allsop's denial of the existence of God was as brilliant an example of doublethink as ever drew applause in, the House of Commons.
. A man like Mr Hogg, with his consuming need to be committed, could not possibly accept the consequences of his own concession that, at the heart of life, there is total mystery. For he would thus be confronted with a mountain- range of apparently intractable problems—and no ropes, in the form of a recognisable superior being or force, to help him over the top.
Mr Hogg's intellectual vanity, if nothing else, could not cope with that situation, so pathetic- ally he finds himself 'at least inclined to experi- ment personally with religious practices and experience.'
.Like so many others, he goes through the ritual of pretending to know the unknowable, instead of proudly joining the uncushioned cross-benches of the !don't knows' whom I swear if ever the Final Opinion Poll of All is taken, will be in the majority.
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