Self-criticism has been part of church dialogue for centuries

But Jim has ignored two essential facts.

First, there is not one church but many - just as there are many left tendencies warring among themselves unfortunately - all seeking in their different ways to lead their followers to the non-contingent reality summed up by God.

Second, criticism of religious hierarchies is built into the Christian faith, dating back to John the Baptist, who called them a generation of vipers.

In 1848 the Reverend Charles Kingsley declared: "We have used the Bible as if it were a mere special constable's handbook, an opium dose for keeping beasts of burden patient while they were being overloaded, a mere book to keep the poor in order."

This is not dissimilar from Marx's "opium of the people" five years earlier, but with an important difference.

Marx said religion was an opiate, whereas Kingsley took personal responsibility for making it so.

Imagine a Russian communist saying: "We have made Marxism-Leninism into a secular-state religion for keeping the people patient and in order while awaiting the socialist millennium."

Now that's self-criticism - a practice that has been part of inter-church dialogue for centuries. Leftists please copy!

Karl Dallas

Bradford