Madam, Given the many huge life-and-death problems in the world – war, hunger, poverty, and the current economic crisis, it seems somewhat bizarre that the recent letter from a member of the catholic church chose to focus on same sex marriage for her great crusade in your letter's page.

This strikes me as yet another case of those involved in religion and the Church having a somewhat skewed moral compass when it comes to judging such matters, and the recent decision of the Church of England to deny females the right to be ordained as Bishops brings into question whether or not the Church as a whole really does have equality, respect, and openness at the heart of its faith and supposedly Christian values.

I have an open mind on all matters of human spirituality and beliefs and of course, personal choice and freedom to worship any religion (or not) lie at the heart of democracy.

However, I pray (pun intended) that any person of religion who is against same sex marriages might pay attention to their own readings in the Bible such as 'Galatians 3: 28' which perhaps gives us a final word on the subject and maybe put an end to their judgemental and discriminatory stance: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus".

Mick Conroy, Ross