MY initial reactions to the letter from Christine Goldie on denominational schools (October 27) were of perplexity, anger, and finally laughter. Without being specific to the case of St Joseph's (as Ms Goldie's letter wasn't) the reason d'être for denominational schools within the state sector (the vast majority being Catholic, but also including Episcopalian and Jewish) is simple – parents want them. In a society where "choice" is seemingly the greatest good I fail to understand why some people don't recognise this and respect it.

I am a Catholic and last time I did my self-assessment I must have missed the box allowing me to pay less tax based on that. Catholics pay taxes based on earnings just like everyone else – we fund the schools our children attend, just like everyone else. All we want is to continue educating our children according to our beliefs. We do pay for it, so the request seems pretty fair to me.

Cameron McLarty,

247 Eldon Street, Greenock.

JAMES Mills (Letters, October 28) defends denominational schools from the charge that they are "the root cause" of religious bigotry and asks if abolishing them would end the bigotry. My answer is "No", but it does not follow that denominational schooling can't contribute to bigotry.

He asks if privately funded denominational schools are acceptable even if they cause bigotry. My answer would depend on what he means by "acceptable". I would not be in favour of such schools, but sometimes I must accept people's freedom to spend their own money on things I judge unhealthy. If, however, as a taxpayer, I am forced to fund them, I have grounds for voicing non-acceptance.

Whether at least some denominational schools can contribute to bigotry, even while not deliberately teaching it, is a question for research to tackle. I am more widely concerned about promotion of religion in state schools, as it obliges all taxpayers to fund a select range of supernatural beliefs which often contradict each other and are unsupported by evidence.

Robert Canning,

Vice-chair of The Scottish Secular Society,

58a Broughton Street, Edinburgh.