The Editor, Sir:

I refer to an article entitled 'Three Cheers for Freedom' written by Ian Boyne in The Sunday Gleaner of September 18, 2006.

While I agree generally with the main tenet of the article, I am somewhat puzzled by parts thereof.

What puzzles me is the assertion that the freedoms of modern democracies are as a consequence of secularism.

Maybe I am wrong, but I had always thought that the freedoms of western democracies could be traced back to the struggle of Christians to worship according to the dictates of their conscience.

This is what William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury (1942-1944), had to say on the matter: "Historically, the first claim to liberty successfully asserted against the modern State was the claim to worship God according to conscience. It is this which makes the Dutch Protestants, who rose against Philip 11 of Spain, the truepioneers of European liberty, and in our own country the success of the same claim by groups attached to different beliefs in a series of political upheavals was the well-spring of English liberty as we know it today." (William Temple's Teachings by A. E. Baker, p. 142)

It is true that the forces of secularism later pushed for the freedom of self-assertion thus, but if Temple is right, it all came from the struggle for freedom of conscience.

Hence, it is no coincidence that the countries which have evolved to democracy all had a Christian tradition.

I am, etc.,

SHIRLEY RICHARDS

Ruthven Road, Kingston 10