If I am in one of my more acerbic moods – and I have the time – I will occasionally take a leaflet from someone handing out a tract, smile sweetly and say: ‘I hope that makes you feel better about yourself…’; alternatively I sometimes stop and ask ‘For whom are you doing this? Is it for you or are you really intent on spreading the Gospel? How many people do you know who have come to faith through this waste of paper?’

Harsh I know, but I was once among their number and I am reasonably confident that in the main the purpose of standing at street corners handing out tracts is more for the needs and wants of those handing out the tracts than any real thought about the people on the receiving end. I will add that I believe the same is true for those who hand out tracts about Islam, Hare Krishna or the JWs (and I treat them in just the same way).

Whatever, I don’t think the Christian religion would have prospered if at the outset Paul’s missionary zeal was confined to hanging around the streets of Corinth, handing out phylacteries!

As regards Christian Concern’s comment ‘ We… refuse to live in a totalitarian regime where political and religious opinion is banned.’ I think is a bit OTT, in a totalitarian regime there would have been no redress. Oddly and ironically enough, until quite recently in Britain’s (and much of Europe’s) history, when Christianity was a dominant religious and political force in society, censoring and persecution of religious or political thought at odds with the status quo was common (think of the Inquisition!!). Whatever the faults of council bureaucrats, we live in a far more tolerant and open society than when religion had greater social and political power.

As for Christian Concern taking legal action, the implications of Matthew 5:39 etc. seem to just pass these militant Christians by. Perhaps if there was some REAL persecution, met with humility (as was Jesus’ and the early Church’s way) it might prove far more powerful in spreading the Gospel than some tacky leaflets!