OPINIONS: Is living in sin a sin?

TARIQ ALI, writer: I've lived in nothing else. When my son was six he questioned my partner on why we weren't married. She answered that she wasn't prepared to give up her rights, to which he replied "What about your lefts?"

SIR JIMMY SAVILE, fundraiser: I always thought it was a sin to live together but I am prepared to change my mind. Personally I would prefer to be married.

JOHN McVICAR, writer: If one is a Christian, and I am not. If one takes the Christian precepts as given I can't see how it couldn't be.

ANNA RAEBURN, radio presenter: Living in sin is living blindly, in unkindness and untruthfulness, in lack of care, exploitatively and callously. Living outside marriage is optional.

BARRIE HIBBERT, Baptist minister: I have never liked the phrase living in sin. But there is more to a Christian view of marriage than what is often loosely called morality. It is about trust, love and lifelong commitment.

JAMES THOMPSON, Bishop of Bath and Wells: Christian teaching is that we all live in sin; to a generation that has nearly given up on marriage we say - Think again.

RODERICK STRANGE, chairman National Conference of Catholic Priests: Christian marriage is for life. Those who are unable to accept that commitment should not be forced into it. They should rather be supported.

MYLE BOWMAN, cleaner: It ain't no sin to live with someone. All that religious stuff is baloney. I was brought up Catholic but I don't believe in it. I live with my girlfriend. We have one kid and another on the way.

STEPHEN JOSEPH ADAMS, pensioner: There is no discipline with young people these days, they are given too much freedom. The Bible says living together is a sin and that's what I believe. This country is going down the pan because of loose morals.