First of all, I would like to thank Tai Lo Chin, Lekiu Bakri and Tracy Kuan for their thoughtful comments about my article on ('Gays and Islam,' July 9).

On a personal note I have to say that their letters came as a welcome relief after so many hate emails over the past few months!

I am truly grateful to these writers for the simple reason that they have demonstrated the fact that Malaysians are indeed capable of having sensible, intelligent and civilised discussion on matters regarded sensitive or taboo by our political masters (as well as the self-appointed moral guardians among us).

I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate one vital point which was the main thrust of my article. As I pointed out in the piece itself, the aim of the article was not to question the legitimacy or moral status of homosexuality within Islam (or any other religion for that matter), but rather to address our own prejudices and fears which are sometimes rationalised or justified in the name of the beliefs we profess.

That prejudice can be justified on the grounds of religion is not alien to any of us. The sad fact is that the trail of human history is strewn with examples of bloodshed and violence conducted in the name of God.

Surely the writers will agree with me when I say that religion has indeed been abused in these cases, as it still is today?

The point, however, is this: Religion also offers us an ethical basis for a politics of reconciliation and pluralism. Practically every religion teaches its followers to reach out to the Other. This is never an easy process, and it is fraught with political as well as theological difficulties.

But sometimes these risks are worth taking as they force us to question our own beliefs and helps us locate ourselves in relation to others.

A good example would be how the Church radically re-oriented some of its most basic presuppositions by the time of Vatican II.

The reason was simple: Contact with other religious communities and the practical reality of having to live in a multi-religious world finally brought Christian theologians to the conclusion that heaven and salvation was open to others as well.

Jesus's saying 'none shall go to heaven except through me' had to be imaginatively reinterpreted in a more universalistic light.

Of course homosexuality is a sensitive issue and there are prejudices that are all too real in our society (as elsewhere). But for me the challenge lies in trying to come to terms with such radical differences without demonising the Other or robbing him/her of his/her humanity. This is why I pointed to you the need for an ethics of difference.

This does not open the way for total acceptance of anything and everything (I for one consider rampant capitalism a sin worse than most) but it does mean that we should frame our personal differences in the context of an ethical relationship that does not give us the excuse to brand people who are different as 'subhuman' or 'evil'.

Tai Lo Chin may be somewhat skeptical about how this may work in the future, but the proof is already here: We are discussing something that was once regarded as an unmentionable subject in the open, and though our views may differ we can still disagree on civil terms. For me, that is what I call progress and I am thankful for it.