MALTA --- In these early weeks of the school year, it is good to be reminded of the relation of faith and reason. My compliments to George Weigel for his Sept. 4 column, "Faith and reason, irrationality and terror."

Mr. Weigel brings to our attention a very important presentation made by the Holy Father in Cameroon, where the Pope notes the limits of our own unaided ability to know the mind of God and at the same time to realize how God permits us to infer from creation, and our scientific endeavors related to it, the larger goodness of the God who loves us.

The Holy Father remarked: "Religion and reason mutually reinforce one another since religion is purified and structured by reason, and reason's full potential is unleashed by revelation and faith." The Holy Father was addressing Muslim leaders at the time, and Mr. Weigel likewise employs his insight to admonish Muslims to be of moderate view and temperament. This is not, Mr. Weigel comments, the way of the Taliban and slogan that underlies contemporary jihad-ism: "Throw reason to the dogs --- it stinks of corruption."

This is a fair reminder, but let me suggest with respect, that it applies more broadly to us all. While Mr. Weigel speculates that it is not, in his judgment, "government's task to foster interreligious dialogue," he proceeds to remind government --- in my view, properly --- that when governments fail to recognize the detachment of faith from reason, it continues "the mortal threat" to civilization represented by 9/11.

With due respect, Mr. Weigel understates the applicability and significance of the Holy Father's insight for all faiths, including our own, and he also understates the role of government as a form of community which necessarily must be informed by a constant and civil dialogue among faiths, and between faith and reason.

As President Obama observed this summer in Cairo, governments must promote "mutual respect and mutual understanding" in matters of faith. When governments undertake this effort in cooperation with responsible nongovernmental actors, the threat of terror that builds up within the hearts of men, often provoked by short-term domestic political agendas, is reduced and the prospects for faith to be understood as inviting science to address the sanctity of life, be it pre-born, infant, or elderly, and the harsh realities of disease, poverty and illiteracy are heightened.

The only regrettable line in Mr. Weigel's commentary was its first. He complained that the media had an obsession for "salvation-through-latex in the matter of AIDS prevention in Africa." With more than 32 million men, women and children infected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and with increasing numbers expected to die because over two-thirds lack access to anti-viral drugs, it is hard not to be transfixed by the dimensions of the disease, especially since to many who do not share our faith, a successful challenge to the disease involves prevention and condom usage.

The subtle beauty of the unitive and procreative may or may not be appreciated by the Catholic mind in America, but perhaps we should not be quick to condemn those of different religious view who find that beauty surpassed by the perceived need to address a pandemic by means permitted in other faith traditions. Of course, discomfort with how Catholic doctrine seemingly allows, or even requires, the rejection of science as a means of alleviating human illness is not justification not to teach the doctrine straight and true. Yet, in this teaching, a certain sensitive humility is needed if indeed "genuine religion" will be permitted to "widen the horizon of human understanding," as the Holy Father asks.

That said, much gratitude is due Mr. Weigel for prompting an interfaith dialogue that can be undertaken with enough open-mindedness to see how others might see the relation to faith and reason differently than ourselves, and how this grasp of difference is essential if the conversation is to be more than one-sided. That is President Obama's instruction, and I am privileged to undertake a small part of this effort.

In the beautiful surroundings of the island nation of Malta where the apostle Paul strode in 60 A.D., we will undertake diplomatic efforts to learn how well, or not at all, children in both the United States and Europe accomplish comparative religious study. As with all diplomatic efforts, the ultimate goal is the building up of the human relationships needed to stem violent conflict often aggravated by division aided and abetted by faith's misunderstanding.

Douglas W. Kmiec is U.S. Ambassador to Malta. He was formerly chair and professor of constitutional law at Pepperdine University, Malibu, and the former Dean and St. Thomas More Professor of law, The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.