Sir, – May I thank your columnist, John Waters, for articulating a view rarely expressed in the media nowadays (“Venomous culture in the media targets Catholicism”, Opinion, October 14th). People of faith are so often portrayed in the media as a homogeneous group, blindly in thrall to superstitious beliefs. “Practising Catholics” is a term often used by people in the media with thinly veiled contempt, some journalists and commentators feeling it necessary to make it clear that he/she personally does not belong to that “unenlightened” group which remains unthinkingly faithful to a flawed church/organisation.
In fact, far from being unthinking, all people of Christian faith have had to think deeply about what matters in life. They have looked beyond the shallow values of materialism to attempt to live by Christian ideals, notwithstanding the fact that the Catholic Church – and all Christian churches – fall far short of their founder’s ideals. – Yours, etc,