I don’t think I can agree with much of what regular correspondent Martin Scicluna writes when he brings religion into his arguments. Christians aspire to be good humanists, and sometimesan engagement in the form of dialogue is called for with secular humanists also trying to begood humanists.

A case in point is the government’s decision on embryo freezing. Scicluna seems to want to support the government’s initiative on the basis of law being the highest expression of love and truth. One might think that democracy with its cultural methodology of internal discussion and the plurality of diverse opinions is some kind of a guarantee that the future of man is well served. Admittedly the professional must not ignore ethics if he cares about man’s future. He can find truth, goodness and beauty by his reasoning written in every human heart by nature itself.

However it remains true that while we all want to say yes to the full development of the human person through all round solidarity, we all want to say no to injustice from any quarter, or to the selfishness of individuals or groups.

Unfortunately it happens to be true that when everybody is corrupt democracy descends into the worst form of government. When evil and violence take over in society life becomes hellon earth.

So which is worse, rule by one man, or rule by a group of men? Here again a group of bad men at the top can do more harm than one bad man at the top. So in our form of government, rule of one man moderated by democracy is potentially the best form of government.

But it’s not as simple as that if the good leader wants to serve the citizens well to achieve the objective of the living together in a civil society: he needs to secure peaceful agreement through encouraging the life of virtue and providing a great abundance of the material things called for by our composite human nature of body and soul.

And yet he has to be humble enough to accept that he is not responsible for the future of man in the spiritual realm of the human spirit, which includes life after death. This is where I fearScicluna strays into a field which will work against man’s fulfillment and happiness both in this life and the next.