I read with interest how evolution was linked to the issue of state-funding for schools such as Islamia on your letters page (TES, December 19). The writers, presumably believers in evolution, were discreet enough not to identify an evolutionary process which resulted in Mary, the mother of Jesus. The discretion extended to an avoidance of how local Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education groups seek to bridge the chasm between evolution and a miraculous birth; this within guidelines which recommend that assemblies be broadly Christian in nature.

It may well be the case that, unlike the editor of The TES whose decision on what to print and what not to print is immaculately conceived, the way in which mere mortals make judgments is in dire need of evolution.

Rifait Abdulla Consultant to the Islamia Schools Trust 129 Salisbury Road London NW6