While I sympathise with Dr Alistair Sinclair's frustration with religion (Letters, February 14) and have, in the past, walked some way down the road he indicates, I have concluded it is a dead end. Apart from such a development being akin to throwing granny out with the bathwater, the history of the anti-Christian ideologies, fascism and communism, in the past century shows that anything which replaces religion becomes religion. It is supremely ironic that, in this Age of Apostasy, Christ Crucified is an ever more potent representation of human suffering and ''man's inhumanity to man''.

The forces which brought about the rise of Christianity in the first century - Caesarism, mammonism, pharisaism, etc - are all too evident today. Without a coherent ''religious'' response, it is difficult to see how they may be resisted. Such a response, to work, must take account of the needs of all human beings, not merely those of the intelligentsia and the materially or socially comfortable. In a culturally diverse world the first step might be to disentangle matters of ascertainable truth from matters of historically determined taste as it seems to be the confusion of these two categories and the attempt to dispute the latter which lead to all the trouble.

Geo S Neil Mochrie,

16 Heugh Street, Falkirk.

THE French National Assembly has not banned religion, it has restricted the wearing of items of religious clothing and icons of all religions, not just Islam, in school premises during school hours. It has correctly maintained the right of the individual to hold a religious belief. The columnists and correspondent (February 13 and 14) have widened their criticisms to include society as a whole. However, they forget that there are apparently no Koranic diktats requiring females to be covered from head to toe in public - they are only required to act modestly.

Home and school are two of the most important factors in determining the beliefs and attitudes of an individual in later life. Schools should be used to inculcate social harmony, but is this possible when items of difference such as religious clothing and icons of all faiths are on display? Of course, Islamic women in western societies should be allowed to wear the hijab, burka/habbaya should they so desire but they tend to forget that this is by choice and not forced upon them by the mores of a male-dominated, Islamic state. Choice in this is about the true equality of women in society.

Integration is essential and requires two-way effort, compromise and tolerance by the immigrant and the native inhabitant. However, integration is not a distinct entity in society but part and parcel of the final assimilation, albeit modified, of the immigrant into the native, dominant society. Society must try to remove barriers that exist; religion, a vital social factor, can help in their removal. Consideration should be given to the place of religion in the state educa-tion system and to the establishment of privately-funded faith schools. However, the right to religious belief must never be denied.

Ian F M Saint-Yves,

Dunvegan, School Brae,

Whiting Bay, Isle of Arran.