I refer to the letter Have zero tolerance for apostasy , whose writer obviously holds that apostasy has religious sanction in the Quran and that if it's in the Quran, it's the truth.

That's my problem. How on Earth, in the age of reason, and after a century as chaotic and shattering as the 20th century, can we still believe anything we read or learn to be perfect ?

The Quran, like every other document, spiritual or otherwise, was written by humans, however divinely it may have been conceived. It is subject to human bias, human error and above all, changes in interpretation that would obviously have come with different variations of Islam and their traditions.

The international school I study in teaches the international baccalaureate, where we learn the theory of knowledge. It is the study of how we know what we know, and faith is a recognised way of knowing, as it should be.

However, it is never seen as more than a strong, but unreliable way of knowing the truth, unlike more reliable ways such as empiricism or logic. God gave us faculties that we may use them to know the truth.

I don't need to say that apostasy - once many points of view are accounted for and many truths dissected - is not an issue for a civilised, knowledgeable society.

The right to change one's faith is a basic human right not to be hijacked by any system of belief yearning to keep its power over the masses.

Elfie is right. Only God knows best. But His message in the Quran is subject to human thought and opinion.