I FOUND Mr Culbert's defence of Margo Grimshaw's views concerning the role of faith schools (LT December 20) and their effect upon wider society to be nothing more than a continuation of the same flawed and superficial assessment of the issue.

I find it hard to follow the logical inconsistency of someone who states that they support radical integration and religious freedom'.

How could the religious freedom of Catholics and Anglicans who desired to maintain their own identities within their schools be reconciled with being forced to radically integrate'?

Mr Culbert does not fully explain what radical integration' means, but I suspect that its end result would be the French all-secular' type of state education which he so admires.

The French state at least is clear about their intention of wanting to completely marginalise all faith school education despite many of their policy makers sending their own children to over-subscribed faith schools, as do their British counterparts.

The impression given that the radical integration' of Protestant and Catholic schools in Northern Ireland is addressing the major causes of the conflicts again seems a little simplistic.

I am unaware of Paisley and Adams storming out of Stormont because of Christian doctrinal differences.

I suspect that maintaining a core element of Christian faith education within the Province would be an issue that would unite all factions.

The major cause of the conflicts in the province has been the intervention, over centuries, of a very secular British Government.

Also the impression given that state school religious education is somehow delivered in a more objectively and even-handedly' way omits the fact that the secular education authorities set the same syllabus and course content that is taught in both state and faith schools.

Mr Culbert also seems to be unaware of the guidelines set by these secular authorities which state that students should not just objectively learn about religion, but also from religion'.

This important fact has never been lost to faith schools, which the state system is just beginning to catch up with. This is one reason, acknowledged by the state that religion has something to teach us, that Christian faith school education has for centuries remained at the heart of this country's cultural educational endeavour.

In this respect, Mr Culbert's wish to marginalise this educational tradition and resource to the margins of irrelevancy, brings to mind the cultural terrorism of the Taliban when they systematically destroyed all the ancient statues of the Buddha in Afghanistan.

However, I would still defend with my life Mr Culbert's right to promote his secularising ideology.

BRENDAN COOK, Campbell Court, Blackburn.