Neither illusion nor delusion.

John Garvey's January 12, 2007, column ("Grounds for Disbelief") says more on the God-delusion and the free-will-illusion debate in fewer words than anything else I've read. He notes how a strong need for certainty lies behind both the "fundamentalist belief in scientism" and fundamentalist religious beliefs.

As a psychotherapist, I see those who argue that God is a delusion and free will an illusion as venturing into psychiatry and, in effect, diagnosing the vast majority of humankind. This is inappropriate, to put it mildly. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, allowances are made for widespread cultural practices, such as belief in God and in one's ability to make choices. Only in very unusual cases would belief in God or in free will ever be considered a delusion or an illusion.

JIM LEIN

Minot, N.Dak.