evidence: People will no doubt make up their own minds about this. Sadly, however, the stiff-necked stance of those clergy and laity who refuse to countenance a female moderator is all the more regrettable because the Presbyterian Church was the first main Protestant denomination in Ireland to ordain a female minister, the Rev Ruth Patterson, in 1976. Since then the Presbyterian Church in Ireland has backtracked, with the fundamentalists cleverly creating for themselves a let-out conscience clause. Several excellent female candidates have allowed their names to go forward for election in the past half-century or so but all have been rejected by the church. [...] Women are the backbone of Irish Presbyterianism. They deserve much better from their male colleagues. Meanwhile, many broader-minded Presbyterians are leaving to join other Reformed denominations that treat women leaders and potential leaders with the respect and understanding to which they are entitled.