Letter: Where the Church offers the young a moral lead

Sir: The latest spat between Church and State has provoked complaints from churchmen that their views on morality are rarely reported. Perhaps they should be more robust. A clear statement, for example, that it is immoral for people - married or single - to have children in the full knowledge that they cannot adequately provide for them would certainly make the headlines.

It would also throw into sharp relief the Church's trenchant and often justified comments on wider childcare issues and dispel the impression that, while willing to criticise institutions, they fight shy of taking a decisive position on issues of personal responsibility.

Yours faithfully,

ANDREW CURRIE

London, SW4

26 November