allowed to pray to God in schools, because of the doctrine of the separation of Church and State, but it is acceptable to spout politics from the pulpit.

In the name of freedom, the United States has a strangely bent and illogical line between church and state. Preachers as politically far apart as Jesse Jackson and Pat Robertson are not allowed to preach in schools but they can and do run for high public office. They also use their church organisations and their religious followers to a political end. Indeed, Pat Robertson may be the reason that George Bush is not now President of the United States.

In other countries, the line between Church and State has been less formal but much more sensible and the separation of church and state has been less touted but more observed. That, we think, is as it should be. The Church and the State understand that they each have a great space and a great place and that they should stay in their space and let the people choose without undue influence. That is freedom of choice.

We think the churches should be free to attract their congregations from the widest social, economic and political spheres. But more than that, we think individuals should be free to choose their church without fear that they will be subjected to social, economic or political influence while they worship. We in Bermuda should be free to worship God as we choose without being concerned that we may have our social choices, our economic wellbeing or our political ideals, assaulted in church. Those who minister are free to preach and to guide us in the path of God but we are free to choose. The way we vote is a matter between us and our conscience and not a matter between us and our church.

Politicians are just as free as anyone else to attend the church of their choice and to worship God as they will, where they will and we would hope that their actions are guided by God. They are an integral part of a congregation just as they are a reality on the community. They have the rights of an individual but not a greater right because they are politicians.

We think it is wrong for politicians of any stripe to start visiting an array of churches during an election campaign in order to seek votes rather than honour God. We think it is demeaning to the congregation visited to use them as a political expedient and very unfair to the regular congregation who are forced to mix their worship with politics, whether they agree with those politics or not.

We are concerned that Bermuda may be importing some of the more unpleasant aspects of American politics. As a Country we are sometimes careless about freedom. We should not fall into the trap of thinking that politicians taking politics to church does not matter. It may not matter to you but it may well matter to the person in the next pew and, if so, that person's rights and freedoms are being abused.