SIR – Thankfully it’s but a minute portion of the world’s many believers in Sky Fairies of different shapes and sizes that takes things as far as the gunmen in Paris this week, so we should not blame the majority of peaceful superstitionists for the actions of the few.

As an atheist and secularist, I affirm the rights of superstitionists to be wrong while maintaining my right to point this out to them and others peacefully (with or without humour).

Superstitionists must, however, understand that respect is a two-way process.

John Hein, Montgomery Street, Edinburgh