OR some people, Lent is a chance to take down January's New Year resolutions from the shelf, dust them off, and re-use them as spiritual disciplines. They can read the Bible more, pray harder, give up meat - and (that old favourite) cut back on alcohol. The Church Times YouGov survey last week (News, 8 February) found that four per cent of those planning to give something up for Lent had chosen alcohol.

It is not new for the religious to have conflicting ideas about alcohol. John the Baptist was criticised for living a life of abstinence; Jesus was called a glutton and a drunkard. The two opposing strands continue in Christian life.