The NHS evidently does not believe in the futility of prayer because it spends far more tax-payers' money on spiritual needs than the local police force does.

In the two main city hospitals and in the Martlets Hospice there are chapels available for the use of patients, staff and visitors. They also pay chaplains, out of public funds, to minister to the patients and staff.

This ministry is invaluable, as I found when I was a patient in the Royal Sussex County Hospital this year.

The spiritual ministrations of the chaplain and my prayers and those of my friends helped me through a time of fear, pain and weakness and, alongside the skills of the nursing and surgical/medical staffs, eventual healing.

As a chaplain to a nursing home, I have seen the great benefit patients receive through my prayers and spiritual ministrations.

I am sure many readers of The Argus could give an account of wonderful answers to prayer they have received in their lives.

Trevor Pateman's assertion that agnostics, atheists and humanists probably comprise the majority of the city's population is not based on any statistical evidence.

The majority of people, from all walks of life and backgrounds, believe in a God. He may not be the Christian God, but they at least believe in a Supreme Being.

If the prayer room at Brighton police station breaks down barriers, helps people to get in touch with God and reduces crime and violence, it is public (our money) well spent.

-Reverend John Webster, Hove