ACCORDING to William Baird (Letters, March 20), "Gordon MacRae of the Humanist Society (Letters, March 15) is of the opinion that anyone who does not share his secular beliefs should not be involved in educational policy-making".

Mr MacRae's letter, however, did not support any such exclusion. Like myself, he advocates a state education system that is neutral on religion, with no publicly funded promotion of selected faiths and no reserved committee seats for unelected faith group representatives.

Such a system would clearly not be favoured by those Christians who want to maintain these privileges for their own beliefs and churches, yet it would not stop them applying for positions in schools and seeking election to committees on an equal footing with everyone else.

There is indeed "every justification for people of Christian faith to be involved in education", but no justification for granting them unfair advantages.

Robert Canning,

Secular Scotland, 58a Broughton Street, Edinburgh.