Sir, – Eugene Tannam (September 15th) suggests that to remove so "personal and nebulous" a subject as religion from schools would require us to do away with art and literature too.
However, I wonder in how many English classes today are students not only told to read a novel, but to nurture a lifestyle in worship of its main characters? In how many art classes are students made not only to practise sculpture, but to make idols of their work?
Other school subjects and academic disciplines may be subjective, but at least in these room is made for critical inquiry and questioning, where other preferences and points of view are acknowledged. Only in religious formation classes are teachers made to explain moral ideas and belief systems as if they were the only possible truth. That is the difference that merits their removal. – Yours, etc,
CHRISTOPHER
McMAHON,
Castleknock,
Dublin 15.