NUDIST king Beau Brummel made his contribution to the World Conference Against Racism on Tuesday with a open letter blaming racism squarely on religion. The letter, addressed to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, described the conference as a farce ”riddled with denial”. Brummel, who described himself as a ”devout atheist”, said the Christian church had justified slavery by teaching that blacks were not created in God’s image and were therefore subhuman. ”The many blacks at your conference must stop howling about racism and slavery, accept their ancestors were seen by the white Christian colonists as wild animals and heathen savages,” he said. ”Black Africans were simply of no consequence to the powerful Christian empires.” He said racism was caused throughout history by religion, yet none of the conference delegates were prepared to connect religion with slavery for fear of upsetting the church. – Sapa