I read with both interest and concern the two letters in the July/August Record written in response to the review of Tom Harpur's The Pagan Christ.

Toronto's Trinity, York Mills, is located near a busy intersection. One result of this is the frequent, often unusual visitors who drop in during the week for myriad of reasons. What just might be the most unusual, to date, occurred late one morning, in early August.

In the February Record, Celebrating Black History Month stated that slavery was abolished in Canada in 1883. I thought surely that was a misprint. But in the next sentence it stated that slavery was abolished in Upper Canada (Ontario) 90 years earlier.

I hear language is a living thing. In retirement, I have not been studying the evolvement of our language as much as I should. Hence, I am probably exposing my obsolescence and ignorance of current trends when I ask for your observations on two grammatical points in the May Record.

I freely admit to having only recently paid attention to the total content of the Record. The magazine has arrived at our home for the last five years, yet I only started thoroughly reading and thinking about some of the articles in the past little while, dating I think to a visit one Sunday morning from Rick Fee in his position as Moderator (good for him to visit our church; great visit and a great guy!).

J. Gordon Neal (July/August) says some believe too much some not enough. I say I would rather be accused of believing too much, than too little on judgement day.

In response to D. Sutherland's letter in the Record: he espouses the thesis of Tom Harpur, author of The Pagan Christ, that Christianity is based primarily on myth, up to and including the Christ. Further, that Jesus is a metaphor for what might be God's grace. Also, that within this thesis, the future of Christianity is assured.

As a Presbyterian elder, I long ago wrote off the Presbyterian Church in Canada as irrelevant. Since moving from my congregation, which over 15 years ago declared support for the ordination of gay and lesbian clergy, I have not kept up-to-date on the PCC's struggles with the issues confronting our society.

Re. Rev. Ron Benty's letter Recognizing Sin As Sin, July/August

I am a member of the Healing and Reconciliation Design Team and a Board member of the Winnipeg Inner City Missions. I am also a First Nation woman of Kenora, Ont., who is a residential school survivor of the Cecilia Jeffrey School.

Re. China Seeks Ministers For Post-Denominational Church, June

I have read Tom Harpur's The Pagan Christ together with other writings on the same theme and it does seem that no matter how controversial this may become it promises to be a primary influence for the future of Christianity.

Kudos to the Record for giving exposure to The Pagan Christ by Tom Harpur. The author postulates that Jesus, in any form, never existed. Further, Charles Templeton in Farewell to God denies the divinity of Jesus. Both books contain a direct rebuttal to scripture, especially the New Testament. Some people believe too little.

Donald MacLeod's authentic portrayal of W. Stanford Reid is more than a cartoon sketch of some "rumbustious contrarian." Reid welcomed me to Canada and my first appointment in 1943, introduced me to Puritan theologians and presided over my wedding. This preacher-professor was an indomitable debater, a convivial Calvinist and a man of his word.

What the Presbytery of East Toronto is doing in their overture to the General Assembly (March) is utter rebellion against Holy Scripture. By the overture to the General Assembly to "establish a committee that will study same-sex marriage" for a period of two years, before "reporting back" to Assembly, is merely an attempt by disobedient ministers and elders to open the door for a carte blanche acceptance of all forms of homosexual practice within the Presbyterian Church in Canada. I am so sad for those average lay people who want to trust ministers and representative elders, but whose trust is being continually, and intentionally, betrayed.

I concur fully with Clyde Ervine's encyclopedic prescription for theological education (May) affirming that it is "about thought, about engagement with the sources of the Christian faith, as well as engagement with everything past and present that challenges the Christian faith." At once, however, the problem of engagement emerges when the challenges of the past are not remembered and when contemporary secular society may dismiss the faith as a subject worthy of challenge.

Thank you for your editorial and article on Fair Trade products. As one who enjoys a good cup of coffee, the information you presented was enlightening and very timely. I presented the issues of Fair Trade at the May meeting of St. Andrew's Church Women. We have since ordered coffee from Alternative Grounds and served the brew after the Sunday morning service. The women decided to purchase the coffee to support economic and social justice.

I've had the pleasure of being a Ten Thousand Villages volunteer for many years at their annual Christmas sale. I appreciated the way you featured Fair Trade in general, and the wonderful assortment of items available at Ten Thousand Villages in particular.

I very much appreciated the May Record's focus on fair trade coffee. This is one way that we Christians can make a real change to the well being of growers in other countries.

As globalization is clearly producing winners and losers, Christians need to respond. In addition to the information in your May issue, I would like to add a few additional points of information. First, there are other Presbyterian churches involved in Fair Trade. PRESCRAFT in Cameroon has been assisting artisans to find markets for over 40 years. Ten Thousand Villages has a long-term trading relationship with PRESCRAFT and their products are available at our stores. Secondly, congregations across Canada from many denominations are organizing Ten Thousand Villages Festival Sales (weekend sales organized on a volunteer basis and run out of a church or community centre). Last year over 50 congregations were involved.