Letter: Road safety as a way to belief

Sir: The analogy between religious education and kerb drill suggested by J Richard Pater (Letters, 5 September) should be drawn more accurately. No one wants children to cross the road without help or to be told there is no traffic on it. But humanists want children to learn how to distinguish between real and imaginary vehicles, and to learn that the latter may be less important than the former. There is no point looking out for a celestial omnibus and getting run down by a terrestrial motorbike.

For unbelievers, and for many believers too, it is wrong to teach children either that there is or that there isn't a God, without also telling them that this is a matter of dispute which they should decide for themselves on the basis of all the available facts. This is surely what is meant by education. If Christianity is to be taught in schools, so should humanism.

NICOLAS WALTER

Rationalist Press Association

London N1