Sir, – Apropos the letter from Ivor Short (August 18th), should we in this country not also have the right to insist that our national broadcaster desists from promoting the ethos of the Catholic Church via the not so subtle propaganda apparatus that is the twice daily Angelus reprise on the airways?
After all, most of our citizens pay significant annual licence fees to what is to my mind a public service entity of sorts and as such it should show no favouritism to any specific religion.
As a senior citizen with a long memory of State and church brainwashing, I do not buy into the untruth being peddled to the effect that the sound of the bells is aimed at aiding quiet reflection.
For me it engenders memories of leather-toting loudly roaring religious teaching orders (and indeed, many lay teachers) of the 1950s and 1960s.
Surely the broadcaster should be aware and mindful of the public mood in the context of the debate as to the distaste in many quarters concerning the influence of the church, now dwindling admittedly, in the running of schools and hospitals in this country for most of the past century. – Yours, etc,
FRANK SLOWEY,
Gorey,
Co Wexford.