I do not defend the karmic teachings of Glen Hoddle and Sri Chinmoy, castigated by William Fraser (Letters, October 17).

Yet the idea that sickness and disability are the product of our sins is not confined to dubious gurus or even to the Hindu-Buddhist East.

The Jews, while not believing in rebirth, believed sickness was the result of one's sins in this life and associated healing with God's forgiveness for those sins. "There is no health in my bones because of my sin" (Psalm 38).

Jesus, likewise, associated healing with forgiveness. "My son, your sins are forgiven," he told the paralytic at Capernaum as he healed him (Mark 2:5).

"Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you," he told the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:14).

Such passages, says a commentator, "lend colour to the suggestion that our Lord shared the current belief of contemporary Judaism that disease was the result of sin".

As for rebirth, many early Christians believed in that too. It was only deemed heretical in AD 553.

-Graham Chainey, Marine Parade, Brighton