Madam, – I concur with Stephen Costello’s advocacy of a “truly liberal” party but must flag an important caveat regarding his particular vision of it (June 23rd). His assertion that Christianity is apparently in need of “rejuvenation and reorientation” will strike an odd note with many liberals. It is not the responsibility of any existing or proposed political party – still less a liberal one – to rejuvenate or re-orientate any religion. That is a matter for the religion. Liberalism’s task is to ensure freedom of thought, conscience and belief without favour.
Normatively, liberalism is quite capable of standing on its own two feet. Its core tenets, specifically the freedom of the individual, have frequently been antagonistic to ecclesiastical authority. Its humanistic philosophy is not contingent on the transcendent or any notion of it. It worries me that Mr Costello insists on including the “unborn” in his letter, as this leads me to doubt his willingness to support a woman’s right to choose. Any new liberal party, to be truly liberal, would need to stand unambiguously for a full separation of church and State, which we still do not have in this country. This would easily distinguish it from the present cohort of exhausted ideologies.
Finally, Mr Costello does not see the irony in the regret he expresses concerning the absence of philosophy in Irish secondary schools, his desire to rejuvenate a Christianity and the continued dominance of our education system by the churches.
There lies the answer. The churches have always been uneasy about people thinking for themselves. Liberalism has not. – Yours, etc,