In response to Winifred Brennan's remarks in "A little humour into my life" (Letters, October 2), I hope that many young people like myself read it and understood its sentiment.

Mrs Brennan clearly likes to live in the past - a past where people speak Lancashire dialect and blindly follow religion.

Why should people be prevented from hearing criticism of the Catholic church and its leaders? Who is she to say that Basil Hume and Derek Warlock are "saints?" Indeed who is she to dismiss the comedian in question as "low life?"

First, we have representatives of one faith burning books in our region; now, a representative of another suggesting stronger censorship of television. What are these people afraid of? Freedom of speech is vital in a democracy. If we are ever to create a true democracy in this country, nobody, alive or dead, can be above criticism, no matter what positions of power they may hold or have held.

Of course, in a true democracy, religious zealots must be tolerated, but their inconsistent views on the matter of tolerance will be cruelly exposed.

Perhaps Mrs Brennan, and all others who would like one and all to follow their religion and no one else's, would do well to look forward to the year 2000 and a new century - a century that I hope and believe will see the end of all religion as man discovers the true explanations of life, the universe and everything. After all, longing for the past is futile.

STEPHANIE BUCHAN, Columbia Way, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.