I AM writing to share a concern I have regarding the dangers of being too quick to marginalise religious festivals such as Christmas.

It seems to a lot of people no longer participate seriously in these festivals because Christianity has, in many minds, been discredited.

The demise of the Christian faith in the form that it has been presented to us has happened for many well known reasons - eg problems with dating in the Bible (like where do the dinosaurs fit in), and the poor image given by the lives of some Christians.

The upshot of this is that the Christian faith, and so also these festivals, is no longer seen as relevant for our hi-tech lives.

The problem which concerns me most is that these festivals were around a long time before Christianity.

People used to connect the rebirth of the earth (in December when the days start to get longer) with the birth of a child long before the Christianised version celebrating the birth of Christ.

People used to make sacrifices at the start of the growing season long before Christians started remembering the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross in spring.

Fertility rites were carried out long before the present-day Christian marriage service.

These rituals and ceremonies will most probably have deep significance, at the very least serving to connect our lives with the rhythms of nature. And the marriage service may well also mark an important rite of passage.

These rituals have served our ancestors for thousands of years - should we really be so quick to dump them, even if we do have mobiles and PlayStations?

DAVID TEBB, Yew Tree Drive, Blackburn.