Letter: Spiritual literacy

From Ms Christine North

Sir: The Chris Brain affair and other recent cult scandals provide, I believe, a strong argument for religious education. Our failure to acquaint large numbers of our children with any real understanding of the language and practice of religion is giving rise to a generation of "spiritual illiterates" who are easy fodder for cultic manipulation.

Whatever the wider arguments for and against religious education, at the very least it enables children, as they grow up, to channel their religious inclinations and to recognise and avoid false spirituality when they meet it.

Yours faithfully,

Christine North

London, N21

29 August