Were you one of the 2.6 million who voted in last week's monarchy debate? Were you unable to get through or just perplexed at the whole exercise?

Last Tuesday evening, the nation was promised, in a TV programme, the chance to vote whether to keep the British monarchy or not. The programme's presenter, Trevor McDonald, had us asking would the nation's votes cause the monarchy to collapse? I wondered if the Queen was spending the evening hiding under the bed? Both questions were ridiculous but then so was the programme. It turned out to be another attempt to knock a convenient institution but it did so by a method we should in our faith steer well clear of; namely asking the wrong questions.

The other week I did just that and it led to, what for me was, a frightening conclusion. I'd wondered what would happen if every priest and church were suddenly wiped off the face of the earth. What would people do. I felt sure there'd be an enquiry but what then? I decided that after a few weeks schools would still be open and buses would still run. This though left me questioning the whole reason for the Church's continued proclamation of the gospel. What, 1 asked myself, was the point of it all?

Salvation came, as it often does, through the words of another. Having communicated my fear I was told "...yes, but you have asked the wrong question." It took me a while to realise that asking one set of questions would lead me up the proverbial 'garden path' to, in this case, the undermining of my faith. Had I though asked different questions a different answer would have been mine. Having realised my mistake I then watched, a few days later, Trevor McDonald employ the same method in the monarchy debate. He seemed quite surprised when "the nation’s decision", by a sizeable margin, was one of retaining the monarchy.

What that programme unintentionally showed was the danger of asking the wrong question. Perhaps its findings showed that "the nation" saw through the method employed. If so, this is good news. Perhaps we remain agreed that whilst it remains important to question in order to understand, it surely remains infinitely more important, to first, ask the right question? DG.