The Editor, Sir:

I wish to extend thanks and appreciation to Earl Moxam for a fine bit of journalism in his TVJ programme aired on Wednesday, May 14. In the interviews with some pastors, a priest and the head of the Lawyers Christian Fellowship (LCF), their views were solicited on a number of topical public issues such as gambling, same-sex relations, abortion, and related local laws.

The programme was refreshing for a number of reasons. It solicited the views of a wider variety of the church community than is often the case in media stories. So, we had Burchell Taylor from Bethel Baptist, John Mark Bartlett from Wildman Street Pentecostal Tabernacle, David Henry from Swallowfield Chapel, Monsignor Richard Albert, and Shirley Richards from the LCF.

difference in the opinions

Second, while all the persons interviewed were firm in their convictions that homosexual relationships and abortion should not take place, there was a difference in the opinions expressed in whether persons who committed such acts should be 'criminalised'. Too often, pastoral leaders and in recent times, resurgent activists like the LCF, have adopted a polemical stridency without offering any consideration of the complexity of human behaviour and personal, crises. Often, it is nothing more than self-righteousness on public display.

David Henry's concern that decriminalising buggery might lead to more attacks on underage children is not logical. The law can and should remain in place for attacks on children - whether of the homosexual or heterosexual kind. There is no evidence that the existence of the law, in and of it itself, is the principal restraint against deviant behaviour.

The church community needs to revisit its approach and recapture its mission - that is, to present to fallen humanity a God who changes the human heart by the Holy Spirit - and not through civil laws.

I am, etc.,

CHADWICK BARNSWELL

barnswellc@yahoo.co.uk

Kingston 6