Less for schools, more for pubs, roll on March

From the Letter page of SMH

God only knows ethical answer

We read that the Anglican Church is trying to stack P&Cs against the new ethics program because, it says, the debate so far has been ''one-sided'' (''Anglicans take ethics course battle to P&Cs'', June 9). Does it not occur to it that the reason most voices have not been against the ethics program is that most people (with and without religion) are in favour of it?

The desperate attempts of Anglican Church leaders to manipulate and meddle are no longer surprising, but they are putting their grubby side on show while (without a hint of irony) insisting ethics cannot be taught outside religion. This would be funny in a Monty Python film, but in reality it is dreadful.

Catherine Suttle Randwick

It is a bit rich for the Greens MP John Kaye to describe the Anglicans' call for its people to get involved in their local P&C regarding school ethics classes as ''branch stacking''. Getting interested in what your children's public school is doing should interest parents with all sorts of ideological views - even Christians. There is a world of difference between branch stacking and democratic advocacy. I am surprised Mr Kaye doesn't seem to recognise it.

Reverend Michael Deal Wingham

If the Anglican Church believes in stacking P&Cs with hitherto uninterested parents to pursue the church's objectives, rather than to support the school, I suggest the church's leaders and supporters need to enrol in the ethics classes.

Marcia Moseley Wyong

They're at it again. Nathan Lee (Letters, June 9) suggests children who do not take scripture may have to go ''back to wasting time in the library''. Being in a library with my nose in a book - whether contemplating the divine or puzzling over an ethical dilemma - sounds like heaven to me.

Adrienne Tunnicliffe Roseville