A house of God for a debate on inequality? That's profane

A STREAM of invitations to briefings and meetings from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington crosses the desks of journalists such as myself almost daily, but one recent one leapt out at me as being out of the ordinary, to say the least.

It was not the fact that the event was a dialogue between IMF managing director Christine Lagarde and former US Treasury Secretary and now President Emeritus of Harvard University, Larry Summers, that caught my attention, or even the fact that the discussion was on "inequality", rather than monetary affairs.

It was the venue of the debate - the Washington National Cathedral - that gave me pause. Anyone who knows this magnificent edifice situated on Wisconsin Avenue - I make it a point of attending a service there when I visit Washington - knows that it is a splendid monument to Christian belief.