Rev. William Down declared yesterday.

In a speech to Hamilton Rotarians, he said people were sleeping around indiscriminately without taking precautions. Instead, Bermudians needed to exercise discipline and responsibility.

"There is a lot of promiscuous sexual behaviour,'' he said. "And there is a disturbing unwillingness to talk about promiscuous heterosexual behaviour, and its effects on home, family and community life.'' It was time, he said, to ram home the Christian message of the sanctity of marriage and "the beauty of the sexual act as an expression of trust, respect, affection and love between a couple faithful to each other''.

Bishop Down said the Church had a vital part to play in addressing Bermuda's social problems.

Racial discrimination, drug and alcohol abuse, a rise in robbery and violent crime, unruly behaviour in schools and the high incidence of AIDS were all social problems he had witnessed during his five years in Bermuda.

"These are some of the major issues confronting us here in Bermuda. The Church has a vital role to play in all of them,'' he said.

The Church especially had a duty to take a pro-active approach to tackling the issue of drug and alcohol abuse.

"Both the Church as a whole and we as individuals should not only speak out in these subjects but also involve ourselves in action to counter these problems,'' Bishop Down said.

"It may well start by just sitting on the wall with them, chatting, as one of our priests does.'' The Church should also: Educate members about the seriousness of the drugs problem; Bring together parents of young people to discuss problems of drug abuse and devise ways of discouraging their children from experimenting with drugs; Prepare and produce good written publicity material portraying the nature and seriousness of the problem; Train and equip speakers and group leaders willing to serve in the field; Encourage congregations to be sympathetic to people with drugs problems, and seek out those in the grip of drug abuse and to lead them to God. Individuals should look for telltale signs of drug abuse amongst friends and family and ensure young people were aware of the dangers of drug taking.

"It's no good burying our heads in the sand like ostriches and hoping that the problem will go away,'' Bishop Down said.

During his five years in Bermuda, Bishop Down said he had seen first hand a number of changes, first with the impact of the Gulf War on tourism followed by the recession of the early 1990s and a startling rise in crime and violence.

"I have seen at first hand some of the tensions which are ever-present in our community,'' he said.

On the problem of discrimination he said there was "a right and proper desire'' to ensure that Bermudians did the jobs for which they were qualified.

Anger and frustration followed when this was not perceived to be the case. On the other hand, he said, highly skilled expatriates suffered from permanent uncertainty with the renewal of their work permits a constant factor in their lives.

But to deal with Bermuda's social problems, the Church needed to show a united front.

"Here in Bermuda it is vital that we Christians should be more united than we are, if we are to be really relevant and effective. We need to realise and accept that we have to work together if we are to make our proper impact on the community.'' Encouraging examples of this were Fairhavens, Agape House and "Churches Against Drugs'', where churches became involved in particular projects.

However, this was not enough, the Bishop said.

"More -- very much more -- needs to be done together. The churches can work together. As we, the Church, seek to be effective here in Bermuda, our Churches need to work together.'' In a strongly Christian country like Bermuda, he said, the role of the Church was to serve as the conscience of the community and to give a clear and positive lead on moral issues.

With every generation, the task of the Church was to proclaim its message in a way that met the needs of the day, he said.