<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Clarke—I take your point about the difficulties
with drawing a distinction between interpretation of a rule and application of
the rule. But I think in practice many religions do draw a fairly sharp
distinction. The example you give illustrates the point.</span><br><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">In Church practice, the distinction between
interpretation of a rule and application of the rule resides in the fact that
interpretation of a rule itself is non-negotiable and its application is negotiable
only on what are regarded as trivial points. For example, women must cover
their heads when in Church but how they do so has a wide latitude of
observance—everything from a hood covering nearly the entire head to a small
pillbox hat, leaving nearly the entire head exposed. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">On the issue of women
being silent in Church, however, the rule is non-negotiable. In other words,
the rule itself cannot be questioned and a “rule itself” may be defined by its
being treated as something that is non-negotiable. Interpreting the rule of women
being silent in Church as meaning that women cannot be ordained as priests
becomes an issue that produces schisms and different denominations, precisely because
the interpretation of the rule is viewed as non-negotiable. As one defender of
the “no women priests” position states, “Christ made no provision for women to
administer the sacraments and only he can change that.” In the case of divinely
inspired texts the only legislative body is God himself and what he intended by
his “rules” is a non-negotiable, authoritative matter. Thus, the interpretation
of rules leads to schisms because what God intended can have only one true
meaning. Applications of rules can be given latitude only insofar as they are
not perceived to threaten the rule itself. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Greg </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p></div></body></html>