Sir, - John Waters is a brave man. He is brave to raise the issue of what people believe in a society that has relegated that issue to the realm of the personal and private. He is also brave to try and separate "faith" from "religious practice".
Ireland was, until recently, a place where people were told both what to believe and how to practise religion. Issues of faith were not for discussion. Thinking through what you believed or openly discussing it with others was discouraged. Such activities were left to the professionals.
Since then a great number of Irish people have rejected both traditional beliefs and practices. So you might expect that there would be a varied and lively discussion in the mainstream media on what people now believe and how it works out in practice. Instead, the issue is consigned to the late night "God slot" or your Rite and Reason column. It is seen as being of interest to those who are "that way inclined," but not for the rest of us.
But what people believe about God, about themselves and about the purpose of life is not simply a religious issue. It is crucial in determining the type of society we will develop. Faith is not merely a personal matter - it is a social matter, a political matter, an economic matter, an artistic matter.
Perhaps, following John Waters's lead, the day may arrive when what we believe about God and its implications can be discussed in the marketplace of ideas alongside our political, economic, social and moral ideas without people raising their eyebrows or closing their ears and, more importantly, their minds.
If it does, then we will have really moved on from our past. - Yours, etc.,
SEÁN MULLAN, Castlefield Park, Clonsilla, Dublin 15.