A VICAR has defended the right of worshippers' to "sit on the fence" in a debate over kneeling for prayer.

In an article which is being reproduced in a number of parish magazines throughout Lancashire, the Bishop of Lancaster has questioned the modern trend away from kneeling for prayer.

But the vicar of St Silas in Blackburn, Rev Brian Stevenson, has joined the controversy over what happens in the pews to advocate a "do what you feel best with" approach to praying positions.

The Right Reverend Stephen Pedley, writes in the latest edition of the Blackburn diocesan publication The See that he has noticed the death of kneeling for prayer.

"People crouch, they stand, they sit, in extremis they appear to lie down, but hardly anyone kneels," writes Bishop Pedley.

" Is it because kneeling is uncomfortable or are we so ageing that old bones and old minds can no longer conceive of kneeling?"

He argues that kneelers and hassocks have become virtually redundant and asks what people do with them.

"Do they sit on them, make castles of them, throw them? Anything it seems, but kneel on them," says the Bishop.

Rev Stevenson said he was happy for members of his congregation to make up their own minds on their praying position.

"It is a case of what people feel most comfortable with," said Mr Stevenson." The modern service seems to encourage standing for prayer but, at the end of the day, it is the prayer that is important and not the position."

Mr Stevenson said he accepted that kneeling could encourage a sense of humility but he believed that people who were uncomfortable were less able to concentrate on what they are doing.