Debate on sexuality needs greater analysis

REV Allen Sleith, in his Thought for the Weekend (Saturday Review, July 14), is correct in his analysis of Biblicism (decontextualised quotations) as applied to our contemporary world.

The verse, “Nor shall there come upon you a garment of cloth made of two kinds of stuff” (Leviticus 19:19) is an example of a Jewish ‘chukim’ (a law without explanation).

Some Orthodox Jews follow a list of 613 rules compiled by the medieval rabbi Maimonides from the Bible’s first five books. Many Jews do not observe ‘chukim’.

The current debate within the Presbyterian Church in Ireland on human sexuality, as described in the New Testament, needs informed analyses from the academics of Union Theological College, a faculty of Queen’s University Belfast. They could also enlighten this Presbyterian as to why the distinguished Prof Laurence Kirkpatrick was suspended.

GEORGE McNALLY Londonderry