Madam, - Fintan O'Toole's column of November 13th is a credit to the author and to your newspaper. I was particularly glad to read his demolition of the stance adopted by Pastor Kenny McClinton who argued that "loyalist paramilitaries are driven by ideals and the defence of their country".
In the course of his balanced article Mr O'Toole demonstrates how paramilitary rhetoric (both nationalist and loyalist) about "defending our communities" was never more than a thin cover for naked, sectarian murder. In exposing the shallowness of Pastor McClinton's contention, he highlights a very important point. I refer to the fact that many reverend gentlemen on both sides of the divide managed to blend genuine idealism with what can only be regarded as rank perversion of gospel values. Reconciliation should be religion's characteristic contribution to human wellbeing. It is blasphemy to make religion the cause of strife.
How often have we allowed religion to define our differences? Yet in doing so we insult and betray the faith we profess. In the memorable words of Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks: "A plural society tests to the limit our ability to see God in religious forms that are not our own. Religions are at their best in constructing communities of shared vision, societies of the like-minded. They are at their worst in tolerating diversity."
We live in a world increasingly afflicted by religious fundamentalism and intolerance. All religious people must learn that respect for the freedom of others who differ from us is part and parcel of the faith we profess. - Yours, etc,
Fr IGGY O'DONOVAN, Shop Street, Drogheda, Co Louth.