28 JUNE 1968, Page 29

Sir : One wonders whether the subject of 'God' is

a serious matter for discussion any more, and judging by your 'Kenneth Allsop and Quintin Hogg on God' feature, it now appears to be a subject for farce with a 'pop' journalist and a 'pop' politician providing the laughs (21 June).

It seems that nowadays everyone is supposed to have his own special joke about God's exist- ence, or lack of it. At one extreme we have J. B. Priestley's remark 'God can take being told by Professor Ayer and Marghanita Laski that he doesn't exist,' and at the other extreme we have Kenneth Allsop's ineffable description of \God as 'The great Nobel Prize Winner in the Sky.' Even Quintin Hogg can't resist a 'Does it, by God?'

Let us hope that the joke isn't on us.