I was dismayed, though not too surprised, to hear on a BBC News report last night that a Roman Catholic school has banned its pupils from receiving a vaccine against the cancer-causing HPV virus on its premises. A governor for the school has gone on record as saying that the vaccine would "encourage sexual promiscuity".

In other words: cervical cancer is very much a friend of the Catholic Church. It prefers that young women face the risk of fatal illness in engaging in sexual activity, as a useful deterrent against breaking its backward rules.

Christianity. Has a more loathsome, twisted, downright immoral superstition ever defaced human society?

Thinking people understand that Christianity is backward, ignorant and intrinsically false. We must never forget that it is no less pernicious.