Given the predictable furore concerning the fate of the Christchurch Cathedral, it seems that Bishop Victoria Matthews has forgotten the old quote from Alexander Pope's An Essay on Criticism, and "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread".
This cliche may have only peripheral religious connotations, but we see its truth demonstrated time and time again. Any lingering doubts that the good lady would be wise to restrict any future utterances to matters of faith were clarified when she suggested that the cathedral site be transformed into an artificial beach.
What is odd about her committee's decision is that there is ample evidence before their eyes showing that old stone buildings in Christchurch can be made safe.
After the cathedral was damaged, Christ's College made the school chapel available to the Diocese of Christchurch. Surely, when she has participated in services there, the thought must have crossed her mind: "Why has this old stone building withstood ground accelerations of over twice gravity without serious damage?"
Now it just so happens that during my school days there, back in the 1950s, the old chapel was partly demolished and rebuilt to cater for a growing roll. Where our old bike sheds once stood, rows of Franki piles were hammered into the ground, and I can remember thinking at the time that there was a lot of steel rebar extending from the piles up into the walls. You may well say that this confirms the bishop's approach demolish and rebuild properly; but not so fast.
Again, by coincidence, I revisited the old school last month for a reunion and, in keeping with tradition, we all had lunch in the dining hall.
This beautiful old building is, in essence, just a large hollow box made of blocks of stone masonry; there are no internal support columns. Built years before any building codes, if anything should have collapsed, it should have.
Before developers apply the bishop's rationale and flatten every remaining building in central Christchurch, they need to inspect the Christ's College dining hall and ask themselves, "Why is such a seemingly fragile structure still functional?"
It's not a bad question. Equally to the point, when she next conducts a service in her temporary cathedral, Bishop Matthews needs to lift her eyes not just to the heavens, but to the ceiling, where she can see the sort of unobtrusive, latter-day steel bracing that can render old stone buildings resilient to quakes.
There is a further point the "demolition committee" needs to grasp. The cathedral and grounds may well be the property of the Anglican Church - which entitles it to the final say, because it is footing the repair bill. But the cathedral - and particularly the spire - symbolises a lot more to the wider community than a narrow religious significance. The spire is the spiritual heart of the city for believers and non-believers alike.
If I was heading the rebuild, building an (initially stand-alone) replacement spire would be the No 1 priority because of the huge morale lift it would give to each and every citizen. Given the spire's significance to Christchurch, church authorities are entitled to expect the city council to pay the lion's share for its replacement - and to have an input into the final design. In an article a year ago, I pointed out that, on such issues, you can have your cake and eat it too.
New Plymouth replaced the old post office clock tower with an identical "working folly", but built in modern materials. So, too, can Christchurch quickly rebuild the spire while arguments ebb and flow on what to do about the cathedral.
If anyone in Christchurch needs final proof that you can build earthquake-proof stone buildings, they need look no further than Tower Bridge in London. Most people automatically think it is made of stone. Wrong. It is a steel-framed lattice structure with a veneer of stone. The masonry is there to give it a bit of gravitas, and avoid an architectural clash with the adjacent Tower of London.
They don't get earthquakes of any serious magnitude in England, but if they did, then Tower Bridge would be the last bridge standing.
That iconic landmark holds lessons for Christchurch.
• John de Bueger is a New Plymouth writer and engineer.
