Former taoiseach’s wife Finola Bruton was right about Irish society

Your reaction to Fr Gerard Condon (Irish Examiner, November 4) is distorted by confusion in your understanding of religion and faith.

This is not a matter of semantics or cobwebbed scholastic philosophy. It goes to the core of the malaise affecting Irish society.

‘Religion’ comes from a Latin word meaning ‘scruple’, or pedantic. It is best applied to religious observance and pietistic practice. ‘Faith’ comes from ‘fides’ which is concerned with ‘trust’, ‘loyalty’, ‘confidence’. It is persistent adherence to principle and a belief-system.