Teacher caution

Surely Caroline Lynch (Letters, 14 December) can’t be surprised that her son’s school called her to check that his viewing of a nativity play was acceptable to her?

When dealing with the chairwoman of the Scottish Secular Society, any headteacher would tread carefully, wishing to avoid headlines about helpless children being forced to view religious propaganda, accompanied by heart-rending reports of the trauma the children suffered as a result, and calls for heads to roll.

Ms Lynch may be being reasonable on this particular issue, but the climate of fear that the Scottish Secular Society aims to induce will inevitably make school staff wary. Christmas is tricky for secularists because so many people actually encounter churches and some of the Christian story directly, making the demonising of Christianity rather more challenging than usual.

Richard Lucas

Broomyknowe

Colinton, Edinburgh