13 APRIL 1974, Page 4

Sir: "The Church of England is an established Church," you

write, "or it is nothing." Your love of a rhetorical punch line has led you to make an absurd statement. If the Church of England were disestablished, it would still remain a branch of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, beside which fact its temporary political status is — nothing.

Peter Sheldon 212 Victoria Avenue, Hull