Sir, – Your Editorial “Fear and hope on Good Friday” (April 6th), that special day for Christians, offered a reminder of a salient point from the Gospels. It included a sampling of Jesus’s radical social teaching as illustrated by his priorities for “those who are poor, who hunger for justice, who show mercy and who work for peace” (The Beatitudes). You wrote: “these people are marginalised in every society and are often isolated as they campaign and protest. and the resurrection faith of Easter offers hope to those who fear their cries are never heard”.
This Gospel proclamation strikes one as uniquely relevant and challenging for our day as for every era; an example of peerless wisdom. Such a teaching, from whatever source, nourishes the very best human instincts.
Being as it is an explicitly Christian manifesto should in no way compromise its credentials. Not only does it present an impeccable moral agenda, but also serves as a civic and even political objective to be pursued by both believers and unbelievers alike. Would that this were so for governments. – Yours, etc,