The claim by Alan Bourne (Oxford Mail, March 16) that there is a connection between Lent, Easter and Babylonian mythology is sheer fantasy.

Christianity and paganism can no more mix than can oil and water.

Pagan practices, by their very nature are incompatible with Christian liturgy.

There is also a time gap of about 500 years between the destruction of Babylon and the start of Christ’s mission.

There is no evidence that Babylonian pagans observed periods of fasting as do Christians.

The idea of fasting in reparation for sin is as old as sin itself. St Paul advised Christians that prayer and fasting would help them on their road to salvation (Phil 3:9). Diversity of practices developed and the Church decreed that 40 days of fasting during Lent would be the norm.

It began in Gaul in the second century and not in the East. The idea of 40 days was chosen by the Church in honour of Jesus’s fasting in the desert and in memory of the 40 years spent by the Jews in the desert before they entered their “promised land”.

There is no connection between the Babylonian goddess Ishtar (Astarte) and Easter.

The word ‘Easter’ is an Anglo-Saxon name for a feast celebrated from the beginning and referred to Paschal time. The word Paschal is derived from the Jewish word Pesach meaning passover.

The Jews celebrated their great feast of Passover, by the slaying of the Paschal Lamb. Christ, the Lamb of God, died on the same day and it has been retained by Christians to celebrate his death and resurrection at Easter.

Eastern paganism is completely foreign to the celebration of Easter.

Dermot R Carroll, Wilkins Road, Cowley,Oxford