THE EDITOR, Sir:

Gordon Robinson's 'Reason is Church's enemy' (Sunday Gleaner, February 10), in response to the Rev Al Miller's vacuous statement that "the Church and its representatives are the primary carriers of the mind of Christ in the world", included a fallacy which does not speak to the universal or catholic Church.

Reasoning can be right with respect to correctness or sequence on the one hand, or with respect to the content or truth on the other. However, Mr Robinson's fallacy is dicto simpliciter - "The Church's real enemy is clear thought (o/c reason)". It is like saying 'all lawyers are thieves' - which is an argument based on an unqualified generalisation.

The Anglican Communion's social teaching includes scripture, tradition, REASON (my emphasis) and experience. Anglicans teach that theological discernment is not limited to theology, but includes the work of sociologists, psychologists, economists and the use of scientific knowledge to enable the Church to pass moral judgements on the conditions of society.

Members of the Anglican Communion also respect the notion of civil morality, where there is to be a level of tolerance, freedom of choice and plurality, that is, the Christian Church does not have a monoply on moral insight.

DUDLEY C. MCLEAN

dcmduart@yahoo.com

Mandeville, Manchester