STEWART Lamont (May 22) is a magician. A little wave of his delete key and lo! my proposal, which simply asked the Kirk to accept ''as valid'' the view of Holy Scripture which treats all of it as God's Word, became a rejection of everyone else. The deliverance in my name asked no more than that the view be accepted as a valid one among the spectrum in the Kirk. It rejoiced in diversity; Mr Lamont made it an imposition of uniformity. It allowed for the tantalising complexity of Christian obedience; Lamont transmogrified it into superficial certainty.

Of course there are strident evangelicals, just as there are strident journalists. What still astonishes, however, even after 30 years after joining the Church, is the dismissive spirit in which those who revere the whole Bible are marginalised.

They have good reason, after all, for that delight; they meet there a Father and a Saviour. They find there a miraculous acceptance and a free pardon. Their reverence, too, is well-founded; they do not dare, in Calvin's words, to ''impugn the credibility of Him who speaks''.

Mr Lamont preaches about tensions in the Church. Does he think that prejudicing a debate in advance by misrepresentation is the best way of resolving them? Perhaps when he turns down the light and turns up the heat, he contributes the problem.

C Peter White

66 Woodend Drive, Glasgow.

May 22.

I AM writing in response to Stewart Lamont's Comment (May 22) in respect of his remarks about the Highland Theological Institute.

Mr Lamont speaks of the institute as ''fundamentalist-friendly''. He knows very well that this is a theological insult which we would vigorously repudiate. If he is unable to write intelligently without labelling people (which seems to be the case) then we would accept ''evangelical and reformed''.

We would, however, accept the term ''friendly''. We do try to be friendly, even to people like Mr Lamont who (deliberately?) misrepresent us.

My main concern, is that Mr Lamont leaves readers with the impression that the General Assembly passed a critical motion about the Highland Theological Institute. This is not true. What he fails to mention is that the General Assembly approved an uncontested motion which was positive towards the institute.

The final motion reads: ''The General Assembly applaud the establishment of the University of the Highlands and Islands Project and commend the work of the Highland Theological Institute as part thereof and encourage them to work on the development of their theological courses''.

Mr Lamont is usually an entertaining writer but his prejudices do sometimes surface!

Rev Dr A T B McGowan,

Director,Highland Theological Institute,

Moray Street, Elgin. May 22.