Conditions of Faith

* As a Catholic priest, I have strong misgivings about public assistance for faith-based educational or charitable efforts. Such aid does not come without strings and conditions that can compromise the integrity of the organizations subject to it. However, Bart Kosko’s diatribe against faith itself (Commentary, Feb. 19) ignores the obvious fact that skepticism also relies on assumptions that require an act of faith. The critical thinking rightly touted by Kosko applies to the limitations of science as well as the limitations of religion.

It is just as much an act of faith to say that the universe is responsible for itself as to say that a supreme being beyond the universe is responsible for it. It is just as much an act of faith to deny that human destiny is fulfilled in an afterlife as it is to affirm it.

THE REV. THOMAS WELBERS

Pastor, Our Lady of the

Assumption Church, Claremont