In his editorial, allen talks about the sanctity of the human conscience and the enlightenment that comes from debate. explain how the connotations of these words convey his tone.

  let's analyse what the "sanctity of human conscience is". Sanctity here means that something is sacred - and that it can't be questioned. This gives the connotation that human conscience (for him: the ability to make one's judgements) is important (sacred).- so this ability to make one's judgement is important to the author.

Then the "enlightenement" - this bring with itself the connotation that the debate is very educational, teaches us about something, in a way that's perhaps life-changing. This is also reflected in his tone: that the debate itself is very important.