Church figures

Membership of the Church of Scotland has dropped to under 400,000. George Whyte, acting principal clerk of the Kirk, points out that many more people are active in the church but are not on the formal roll (your report, 29 April).

This may well be true but the membership figures are rather meaningless as it is generally recognised that only one third of the membership of the Kirk attend church regularly, another third come occasionally and one third never come at all.

Church membership is much higher in the United States but the most active churches in America are those that are not part of a nationwide organisation but stand alone, and this may well be true in this country.

Hugh Mackenzie

Bonnethill Road

Pitlochry