I HAVE always considered that old bar room proverb 'never discuss religion and politics' to be a sound piece of philosophy in the interest of having a quiet drink, but not particularly helpful in achieving the longevity of the human race.

So when I read Zafar Khan's letter (Bolton Evening News, September 2) expressing a wish to gauge how the people of Bolton find the Muslim community, I paid instinctive interest.

Not just because of the questions being raised in the letter, but because the points were being raised by someone within the Muslim community.

Often comments like this are jumped upon by pressure groups with covert left wing agendas or fanatics who want to label anybody who doesn't concur with their way of thinking as facists; the fact that this debate is being raised by Zafar will perhaps allow an outsider like myself to respond without attracting this kind of attention.

I don't believe there is any kind of deep-seated foreboding toward Islam in the minds of most rational Boltonians outside the Muslim community, but I do believe there is a mistrust felt toward theocracy.

If we can accept that at one end of the spectrum there are those theologians who merely wish to carry out religious ceremonial rituals in the interest of their own mental and spiritual well being, and at the other end we have theocrats who believe that every detail of written scripture must be read, understood and adhered to by the public, judiciary and government, then perhaps the problems starts in the abstruseness which lies between the two. What concerns me is when the compulsion toward the latter of these two seems far too pronounced.

I might for instance accept without argument - albeit with some scepticism - a personal view that God works in mysterious ways when faced with a child suffering and dying of cancer; but no man, judge, politician or God is going to convince me that a woman should be stoned to death for committing adultery.

I realise that this kind of sentencing would be an extreme rather than the norm, but it is the kind of thing all British people are entitled to feel comfortable in condemning.

There is a pronounced relevance to this observation in view of the fact that we, as a nation, have much ground to cover in our attempt to achieve a fair and balanced mode of existence.

In Bolton, Britain and Westminster, I believe it would be very unwise to have our judgement clouded by religious pre-requisites when our nation's developing liberal consciousness invokes the abolition of corporal punishment, the understanding of criminals, an aversion to the use of any kind of physical force by the populace; but leaders feel a requirement to drop bombs on innocent women and children.

There simply cannot be an uprising of religiously-led standardism in Britain because we've already been there.

On a personal note I would like to say that if, Zafar, you are reading this letter, I have a great deal of respect for the mindfulness you displayed in writing your initial correspondence, it is a grave shame there are not more people like you, whether they be Muslim or non-Muslim.

Anthony Backhouse

Mossfield Court

Bolton