IN response to the recent letter "A Christian should radiate Christ" I feel that despite the author's qualifications in the field of "Biblical Studies", his qualifications from the venerable University of Life appear somewhat lacking.

His comments certainly suggest to me and no doubt others that Christianity, and by that token religion in general, are mere tools for the propagation of scripture, for the passing of a vague message that was perhaps only relevant two thousand years ago.

Comfort

What he seems unable to comprehend is that to many people religion is not about scripture, gospels and biblical discussion. It is not about Ecclesiastical paraphernalia, what it is about is hope, comfort and self improvement.

Is it Mr Warburton's intention to return us to an age where the church ruled through fear of such places as hell? If we cannot contemporise religion we lose what it means to have understanding within religion, and we are reduced to judging people by our own selfish preconceptions based upon our own interpretation of the Will of God.

Have we not seen that even the Catholic church itself has realised this, and changed its values according to the will of society at large? It now tolerates abortion and contraception to an extent previously unthinkable.

Does Mr Warburton think that this is unacceptable also? Perhaps he would feel more at home in a monastery, assuming he doesn't find the brothers' views on forgiveness and toleration too liberal of course.

As for his harsh criticism of Rev.Williams I feel that perhaps he should volunteer to swap jobs with a man of the cloth for a month or two, and then march back to his Ivory Tower to reflect upon the sights he would have witnessed.

Perhaps he would have seen how much like a "social worker" a person would have to be to become a priest, minister etc, as such a job demands compassion and heart, two qualities distinctly lacking in Mr Warburton's opinions.

I believe that he would be too concerned with preaching own opinions on avoiding "the road to hell", he would fail to realise that many people who relied upon him for advice and solace would already be in their own personal hells, perhaps striving against intimidation or bullying, or simply wondering where the next meal was coming from.

I myself am not religious, I believe in no God but believe in the existence of Jesus as a good reasonable man. I dread to think what he would have thought if amongst all the misery going on in the world today, he saw a man like Mr Warburton attempting to take the love out of his teachings, and in doing so, denying the very things He sought to spread throughout the world.

I would suggest to this man with a qualification in Biblical Studies that every once in a while he took his nose out of the Good Book and had a good look around, perhaps he would be surprised to find a world that required not dogma, but kindness, love and compassion from its church, and one that valued the warm message of people such as Michael Williams more than his own coldness. Despite my own beliefs, I know I feel like that.

James Harry Gornall

gornall@cwcom.net