Letter: Religious freedom

RABBI Shmuley Boteach finds the proselytising activities of Nick Howard towards Jews offensive to the point of "spiritual Nazism" ("Howard's son tries to convert Oxford Jews", 18 February). I'm not quite sure what his objections are.

Does he want a fundamental change in religious freedoms in this country? Restraining adherents of any particular religion from debating or discussing their beliefs with members of another religion sounds like a particularly pernicious piece of censorship.

Perhaps Rabbi Boteach feels that Oxford undergraduates are incapable of making their own decisions when confronted with alternative views, and should be protected from indulging in independent thought. If this is so, what sort of education is Oxford offering?

Perhaps the simplest answer to all this is to assume that the Jewish students went along to Howard's meeting because they wanted to.

P HARRISON

Birmingham