ROSEMARY Waters (Viewpoints, September 23) is looking at the Catholic Church through rose-coloured spectacles. She arrogantly dismisses Mr Monaghan’s excellent letter and defends “blind faith”.

History show that popes, like the rest of mankind, have made deplorable errors and violated Christ’s teachings in an appalling manner.

Proofs of this are innumerable, for one has only to think of the Inquisition, perpetrated when Rome had immense power.

It is estimated that during the ‘Golden Age’ of papal domination, more than 10 million ‘heretics’ suffered horrible deaths.

Yet Jesus taught men to love their enemies! Moreover, the Church denounced the discoveries of Copernicus, hounded Galileo, opposed the theory of evolution and doggedly fought scientific advance.

Now the Papal opposition to contraceptives causes over-population in poverty-stricken countries and rampant disease.

The Catholic priesthood holds that faith is a gift from God. An even greater blessing in a sceptical mind with the ability to think independently.

Where would we be now without these courageous rationalists, who challenged established assumptions and defied ecclesiastical prohibitions?

They increased our knowledge and gave us liberty, which is a priceless possession.

Blind belief is futile and to accept the dictates of organised religion without reasoning, as many still do, really is vegetating.

What we need are open minds and a renewal of thinking upon the great religious issues.

GRAHAM BUTLER, Banbury Road, Oxford