Relations between Christians and Muslims have never been more sensitive nor crucial to the peace and prosperity of the planet. Both have their fundamentalists, to whom outright conversion of the other is the only acceptable goal. The mainstream in each case, meanwhile, finds dealing with its own fundamentalists almost as tricky as dealing with the other faith. The Church of England is to debate a motion at its summer synod suggesting that it should evangelise Muslims, on the basis that Christ is the unique Saviour. Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester, have almost simultaneously come forth with their own erudite analyses of these dilemmas, characteristically a Catholic and an Evangelical approach (though both of them far too nuanced to be called fundamentalist).

The Anglican bishop has been cited as a supporter of the synod motion. But in a long article in the new magazine Standpoint, he turns his main attention to the role Christianity has played in English history, and the many dangers to the social fabric that he identifies with the country's decline as a Christian nation. This weakens English society at a time when it finds itself confronted by militant Islam. This is far from the triumphalism some critics have seen as implicit in the synod motion. Indeed, its mover, an Anglican ordinand called Paul Eddy, seems merely to be asking that Christians be honest with Muslims about what they really believe, which Muslims, wanting to do likewise, would appreciate. These things are as much a matter of tone as of content, and of a prudential judgement about what is the right thing to say and when. "Prudential" certainly sums up the cardinal's approach.

Since the Second Vatican Council, the traditional Catholic teaching "no salvation outside the Church" has given way to respect and acceptance towards other faiths expressed in Nostra Aetate, which the cardinal ...

Three major events in the past week have offered insights into the family of today and the family of the future. First, there was the wedding of the Queen's grandson, Peter Phillips, and Autumn Kelly, attended by the divorced and remarried parents of both bride and groom, together with their new spouses. It was a complicated situation familiar to many Catholics who suffer as much from marital breakdown as the rest ...

Cardinal John Heenan, Archbishop of Westminster at the time of the publication of Humanae Vitae 40 years ago this summer, described the crisis of authority it triggered as "the greatest shock the Church has suffered since the Reformation". With hindsight that was an exaggeration, though the encyclical brought about a profound change in the way Catholics saw the Church. Remarks a week ago by Pope Benedict ...

Seen through Western media eyes, the Catholic Church's main contribution to the battle against HIV-Aids in Africa and elsewhere has been its opposition to the use of condoms as a protection against infection. That perception was made worse by the way certain churchmen, most notably the late Cardinal López Trujillo, offered flawed scientific arguments in support of the condoms ban. The reality is rather different. ...

Trust cannot be taken for granted just because it is on the letterhead. The BBC Trust's handling of a complaint against the "Panorama" television programme "Sex Crimes and the Vatican", transmitted in 2006, will dismay those who had hoped the recently revised arrangements for dealing with complaints would quickly rebuild confidence in the BBC's integrity. The Trust's newly published ...