The EU constitution

It is perhaps understandable that Fr Anton Gouder (October 23) cannot imagine leading a satisfying, fulfilling and happy life without his religion, but to extend his personal feelings to a universal statement that a life without religion is a miserable one, is both arrogant and false. The millions who lead contented, religion-free lives should be sufficient evidence of that.

Yet, even if it were objectively proven that having a religion makes people happier, it is still up to the individual to make that choice. The freedom of religion does indeed include the right to have no religion at all. In the European Values Study published last July, Malta was one of only three European countries in which half the population attend weekly Mass, and in five countries, less than half the population consider religion to be important to them. Those are not figures that can be readily dismissed.

While Christianity has been a very influential force in Europe for a long time, it cannot be described as Europe's "roots" - which imply a cause or origin. Correlation does not imply causation. Christianity was spreading while Europe was growing stronger as a recognisable entity, but it was the Roman Empire that set the stage for that, forging links between nations that survived long after the empire itself had collapsed.

Europe was an identifiable entity long before Christianity spread throughout most of the continent. It remained an identifiable entity even where Christianity was replaced by other religions at various points in its history.

Nobody denies that Christianity's influence has been greater than any other single religion - at times Christianity even ruled Europe in the political sense. However, that makes the difference between Christianity and other religions a matter of scale, which brings us back to the question of where to draw the line.