WITH reference to the article about Dr John Sentamu hoping to bring Christian debate to the pubs of York, what’s all that about (Easter message from archbishop, The Press, April 3)?

The average pub drinker wanting to relax for an hour after a day’s graft needs a sermon like a Bethlehem donkey wanting a yo-yo.

Give the agnostics and atheists a break; also, the average pub landlord has enough of a challenge these days making a living trying to get the paying punters to get the liquid spirit down their throats, never mind the alternative type.

Where will all this end? How about a sermon while gobbling the Big Mac with fries, or a pulpit in the petrol station – pay for your fuel fill up, get the brainwashing talk free.

You really could not make it up, the Church going down this route. To reciprocate, the Church should have a bar and beer pumps fitted in the minster. Imagine the scene; an extra loud inebriated singsong, knees up Mother Brown for all, super duper.

Christianity, with its history of war, cruelty and hypocrisy, at least is perfectly consistent. Remember, it is easier to put a camel through the eye of a needle than a rich publican to find God.

Stuart Sykes, Goodramgate, York.

• When I was at school, more than 50 years ago, the timetable included a subject called Bible Study, which was precisely what it was.

As a teacher, more than 40 years ago, one of my subjects was Religious Education, which besides Bible Study, might also include Comparative Religion.

Times change. In 2001 I was asked by an intelligent man, then more than 30, to explain to him what had happened at the first Easter.

In The Press on April 3 the Archbishop of York voiced concern that schoolchildren today don’t know about Easter, and asked “...what has actually been happening, what are they teaching them?”

I think the answer to his question is that many schools are reluctant to teach Christianity, and especially Bible Study, because they fear they will be accused of neglecting or belittling other faiths. The children of today are being brought up by parents most of whose education was similarly handicapped.

They don’t go to church, or to Sunday School, so where are they to learn the meaning of Easter, or anything else about the Christian message?

Once this would have been regarded as part of the country’s heritage, but now those in authority appear to feel England should not have any heritage.

Perhaps Dr Sentamu could try to explain to them that it does, and why it should.

Anne Hollindale, Fulford Road, York.