THE Vicar of Bolton, Mr Michael Williams, in his article on adoption, was, as expected from a churchman, completely missing the point.

Adoption has nothing to do with the composition of families in the past. The suggestion that the "Master of the house" looked after servants (we should be so lucky), apprentices and the rest, indicated that Mr Williams is rather remote from the average man in his two-up two-down terraces, or even three-bedroomed semi, to say the least. He also fails to mention the extremely unpleasant reception that awaited any men caught in a homosexual relationship. Even a heterosexual couple living together had to keep their unmarried status secret.

Children in need of adoption must have adoptive parents of impeccable moral standards. This must require a man and woman who have shown commitment to each other by marriage. Even this does not guarantee that the child(ren) will not be abused in some way, but it does mean that the chances of abuse are statistically much lower than in a house with two men or two women who are self-confessed sexual perverts.

Recent news of some 7,000 paedophiles in this country, so corrupt that they download vile material from the internet, rightly condemned by the authorities, is at odds with the suggestion that children may be, if Parliament has its way, delivered into the hands of people who are so unsure of the permanency of their relationship that they will not go through a service of marriage, either in church or registry office.

If the Vicar of Bolton is not prepared to give judgements or guidance on moral issues, then we may well ask what is the purpose of his office?

Mr F Isherwood

Latham Road

Blackrod, Bolton