I CANNOT feel anything but sorrow for the obvious bitterness embodied in 'name and address supplied's' letter of 11.09.08 entitled 'Lying to Children'

Irrespective of viewpoint, belief or lack of it, the simple fact is the basic teachings of Christianity are the absolute antithesis of offensive, yet so many of secular persuasion are keen to express such affront at first opportunity.

I cannot comprehend why? Is it ignorance?

Parents may well believe that it is wrong to impose a religious doctrine (of any persuasion) upon fertile young minds; so often I hear '...well, we want them to make their own choice when they are old enough'.

All well and good, but such an attitude is equal to preventing a child from learning to read because the parents aren't switched on by Shakespeare, or preventing them from learning basic mathematics because they see no use for calculus. How can a child make decisions for themselves in later life if they are deprived of the foundation stones of basic knowledge?

They will surely end up more ignorant than the generation before them and poorer for it.

As for Darwin, whilst the Richard Dawkins of this world would hold them up to be fact, his theories remain simply that; theories.

Despite fascinating hypotheses and narratives, exceptionally well presented I must add, 'research' such as that put forward in the 'Dawkins Delusion' irrespective of the scientific learning referred to remains inconclusive, nebulous and as far from 'proof' as it ever was.

As far as I am concerned it takes greater faith to believe we evolved out of single celled organisms from the primeval slime, be it via apes, a missing link or two, or whatever as a series of millions of happy coincidences, than it requires Faith to believe in the story of Jesus Christ.

Evolution remains as fanciful as believing the latest Aston Martin evolved from the first stone age wheel whilst finding a way to drive, refuel and service itself, not to mention spawning and nurturing its own pro-creations along the way...all by coincidence and happenstance?

I wonder if the writer of that letter is so pragmatic with the 'truth' when dealing with issues such as nursery rhymes, fairy tales, Santa Claus, the tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny when addressing their children, or are these popular lies 'acceptable' whereas the far more beneficial story of Jesus is not?

Alun R Nicholas RIBA

Stourbridge