I write about the appalling case of cruelty inflicted on the eight-year-old orphaned girl from Angola.

She could be mentally and physically scarred for life just because a church branded her a witch and interpreted the Bible so erroneously.

In the 15th Century, Joan of Arc was burned at the stake by the English Roman Catholic Church because it believed they were saving her soul.

The church which condemned the girl (who cannot be named for legal reasons), the Deliverance Ministry, is not restricted only to Afro-Caribbean Free Churches.

My 17-year-old godson suffers from Asperger Syndrome, a form of autism, and it was suggested to me his behaviour was "demonic".

The Bible, in Mark 14:17, states "by using my name they will cast out demons; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover".

In the US, there is a church whose main theology is based on handling snakes and many of its congregation have been bitten and poisoned and even killed by their snake handling.

This is the danger of free churches with self-made pastors who have not had any theological training.

The Anglican and Roman Catholic churches appoint a specially-trained priest per diocese as their official exorcist.

The former Anglican Rural Dean of Brighton, who became the Bishop of Reading, Canon Dominic Walker of St Peter's Church, was the exorcist for the diosese of Chichester.

The Bible must be read in context. Over-emphasising one aspect has ended in tragedy.

-Carole Irvine, Saltdean