Doing business in the same old way is not a strategy in today's economic environment. So why is it that many church leaders today subscribe to this strategy for our local churches? Is this not a plan for failure? More likely, this is probably not a plan at all.

Thank you very much for the feature on Camp Douglas in February. I have received nothing but positive feedback. It would be unfair of me to allow people to believe that I have been director here since 1993. I am entering my 13th year of camp directorship, but I have served at many camps both here in B.C. and abroad in the Czech Republic. There have been several excellent directors at Camp Douglas over that time. The article correctly pointed to enthusiastic campers and a dedicated staff as the real reasons that our ministry has been so successful. I also feel the need to publicly acknowledge the efforts of our hard working camp committee and the many volunteers who come to our work parties, without whom the ministry would not be possible.

Amy MacLachlan's article on Planning for Marriage (February) provides much grist for the marriage mill into which wedding planners have become the latest cost addition for couples aiming at the dream of a perfect wedding day. Life, dating, Internet dating, cohabitation, marital conflict, divorce, family conflicts and the lack of pre-marriage counselling and marriage enrichment programs pose challenges for couples, congregations, national church offices and society alike.

I was interested in the different reviews (December) of C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity and agree with most of them. However, I disagree with Harris Athanasiadis' description of Lewis as a leftist rationalist. Politically, in addition to his socially conservative views on women and homosexuality, which were conventional for the time, Lewis was highly critical of the post-war socialist government of Clement Atlee. This becomes clear from reading his collected letters, which for anyone willing to plough through the 2,000 pages that have been published so far (up to the year 1949) make fascinating and rewarding reading. However, it is with the notion that Lewis approached Christianity primarily from a rationalist perspective that I would take issue. As one of the most distinguished literary critics of his day he was certainly an academic, and in today's climate of anti-intellectualism this may be enough to diminish his stature among contemporary post-modernists. No question he belonged to the earlier modernist tradition, which, beginning with the 18th-century Enlightenment, acknowledged human reason as an important guide to truth. After all, God endowed us with the ability to think and to use our minds in the service of science or the improvement of our world. But Lewis goes far beyond this. He seems to be following the tradition of the greatest philosopher of the Enlightenment, Immanuel Kant, who concluded that reason can conceive the existence of certain transcendental truths which are simply beyond reason's reach. Didn't Paul say more or less the same thing when he spoke of seeing through a glass darkly?

Just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate that column. I couldn't agree more on the subject. Every year I feel more disturbed by Christmas and everything that goes with it.

I was shocked and dismayed at the lack of respect and reverence in that column and in Rev. Marion Schaffer's January letter.

I am appalled by Andrew Faiz's December article. He refers to the birth of Jesus as "that kid that was born in that barn." How insulting and degrading can you get?

Re Andrew Faiz's article on moral choices (January)

It is appropriate for the Record to solicit charitable donations to supplement its primary income sources, subscription and advertising revenues. But, such an appeal fails to address the root cause of the financial problem – the Record's low and declining subscriber base.

There is in Toronto an active C.S. Lewis Society. We meet four times a year and we have an informative magazine, Pilgrimage.

Re Stop Whispering, Start Shouting, September

As an avid reader of these letters I can count on being exposed to an array of thought provoking and divergent views:

While writing my book, A Different Road, I asked for and received permission to use material re autism from author Elizabeth Bloomfield. When published, I sent Ms. Bloomfield a complimentary copy of my book, which is a biography of my autistic son. Ms. Bloomfield then shared with me an interview her son had had with his facilitator, Andrew Foster, on the subject of spirituality (Record, May 05). I was emotionally moved both by Andrew's concepts of the meaning of spiritual matters and his expressions of his need to connect to, and to be understood by others through his poetry. I wished that I had had these insightful thoughts from this obviously remarkable man to incorporate in my book.

Re To Fund Or Not To Fund, November

Re Watching The Directors, January

Thank you, Michael Coren for so accurately putting into words the thoughts I experience each time we are exposed to The Oprah Syndrome. Often those same people who so willingly subscribe and share the spiritual medicine dispensed by pop icons and television hosts are the ones who dismiss or are cynical of the daily acts of kindness and love performed by those less glamourous people of faith working tirelessly in their own backyards, whether they be local clergy, friends or neighbours.

I enjoyed greatly the article by Brian Stewart on St. Andrew's, King St., Toronto. While a student at Knox College, 1954-57, this was the church that I usually attended. It helped me to learn the importance of beauty in architecture, worship, music and liturgy.

Many thanks to Erin Walton's Called to Wonder, December. Along with Christmas were also Hanukkah and Ramadan and the statement, "It is important for us to respect others."

I must share an enjoyable, and uplifting, experience our congregation, Knox's Galt, Cambridge, Ont., had with Richard Schwartz. (Letter From Away, December)

I found the responses to Andrew Faiz's column interesting (November). Sunday worship is an expression of our spirituality; not spirituality. In fact, it is a ritual based on culture and tradition. A ritual, like the proverbial cat, can be devoid of substance or it can be deeply spiritual and meaningful. It depends what a person puts into worship.