A one-man version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream has been declared "totally inappropriate" for pupils at St Mary's Roman Catholic School, Portslade (The Argus, May 15).

This is rather ironic in view of the legal compulsion to teach Christianity in the nation's schools. How can Christianity be instilled in the young without studying the Bible?

This holy book is the sacrosanct word of a God who decreed the mass slaughter of infants, condoned slavery, inflicted plagues on whole populations and demanded animal sacrifice.

He also commanded the killing of witches, thus inspiring witch hunts that claimed thousands of victims.

Suppression always causes controversy. Prudish censors have never learnt that their actions invariantly backfire.

Declaring Tim Crouch's performance "unsuitable" and "inappropriate" will most likely stimulate pupils' interest in the Bard's works.

So some good, even if it was unintended, may come from this silliness at Portslade.

-W.J. McIlroy, Hove