Letter: Save 'Jerusalem' from small-minded clerics

Sir: So most people do not know what the words of the hymn "Jerusalem" mean. The tradition that the young Jesus Christ visited these islands with his uncle Joseph of Arimathaea, to which the hymn refers, may or may not be true. Credence must be given it, however, in view of the fulfilled promise to the patriarch Jacob that his descendants would become "a nation and a company of nations" (Genesis 35 x, xi), which promise was subsequently passed specifically to the descendants of his son Joseph.

The existence of the British Commonwealth, over which an ancient throne rules on which the monarchs are crowned on "the pillar stone of Jacob" or "Stone of Scone" - see Genesis 35 again - should make people think about this hymn and its meaning.

Mrs S Pearson

Beckenham, Kent