I AM flabbergasted that the Rev John Billingham is still trying to convince the world that Satan is a living being. True, evil exists, but it is entirely in the hearts and minds of man.

While the York Dungeon grotto may not be in the best of taste it, perhaps, serves to further emphasise the "man is the devil" theme as displayed elsewhere in the dungeon in portrayals of man's appalling treatment of others throughout history - mainly carried out in the name of God.

Tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians have been killed. I see little reaction from the Church to these evil acts, again carried out in the name of God and filmed in colour to be displayed to our children on television every day.

Man's lust for power, and his greed for money, has repeatedly shown us to be the true embodiment of evil and the church has been complicit in its failure to provide the guidance required of it.

Steve Clements,

Asquith Avenue, York.

Updated: 11:04 Friday, December 10, 2004