If religion is the opium of the people then Bermuda has an even bigger drugs problem than anyone realised.

On a tiny island with a population of less than 60,000, there are 32 different faiths listed in the telephone book and more than 100 separate places of worship.

But where religion is often cited -- against the evidence, some would say, as a means of bringing people together -- religion in Bermuda only serves to underline the racial divide.

For God may have made man in his image -- but the outside observer could be forgiven for thinking God has had more image changes that the most helpless fashion victim.

And race in Bermuda dictates to a huge extent where a believer worships. The Island's two oldest denominations, the Anglicans and the Methodists, held segregated services well into the 1960s.

And the Island's third biggest church, the African Methodist Espicopalians, was born in the 1800s out of a desire by black Methodists to have more control over their forms of worship.

Bermuda's biggest faith is the Anglican Church of Bermuda, with more than 16,000 believers, according to the 1991 Island census.

But one Anglican -- who asked not to be named -- admitted that the Anglican Church had suffered from a "lily-white'' image.

He said: "There is a lot of talk about Bermudianisation and that goes for us as much as anyone else.

"The Island is largely black and we need to reflect that -- a black Bermudian Bishop would send a clear signal.'' He added: "It does seems incredible today to realise that it wasn't long ago that blacks sat at the back of the church and whites at the front.

"But that was the way things were then and things have changed. To go from that to where we are now in just 30 years shows that we have really tried to promote genuine equality in the church.'' There are currently three black rectors of parishes in Bermuda and two black candidates for the Anglican clergy.

The Rev. Ewen Ratteray, recently appointed Archdeacon and the senior Anglican clergyman on the Island until a new Bishop is appointed, is black. He said he remembered discrimination within his church and suffering from it himself.

But he said: "That is no longer true. I saw what was wrong and I saw the need to change it from within. I hope in some little way I helped in that area.

"If you look at my parish in Pembroke, it's a very good mix.'' He declined to say whether he thought 1996 could see Bermuda's first black Anglican Bishop -- but he added: "Anything's possible.'' Former Leader of the AME Conference and Pastor of St. Paul AME in Hamilton, the Rev. Conway Simmons, said that his church had been born out of slavery and injustice.

He admitted, although the AME had occasionally had white members, it's 7000-plus membership was overwhelmingly black.

But Rev. Simmons added: "We have never said that white people couldn't join -- given the social situation they simply didn't want to join.

"I guess people worship where they feel comfortable and they are comfortable where they are.'' But when asked if some people might only feel comfortable among people of the same colour, he replied: "Perhaps, I guess so.'' Rev. Simmons added that, speaking personally, he felt the Anglican Church's failure to establish a native Bermudian clergy early enough may have hurt its credibility with blacks.

He said: "I have said for some time the Anglicans made a mistake as far back as the 40s in that they did not encourage a native clergy.

"Although we have had Caribbean and US pastors, from the very beginning we have had local pastors and so you got people encouraged to enter the ministry and to be involved in the life of the church.

"The Anglicans never really tried to cultivate a local clergy, whether black or white, until comparatively recently from what I can see.'' He added the Anglican Church in Jamaica recruited some local priests from the 30s.

Rev. Simmons added: "By the time Jamaica got its independence in 1962, the Anglican Church was in a very strong position, not just numerically, but to do something for the welfare of the country as a whole.'' The Most Reverend Robert Kurtz, recently appointed as the Catholic Bishop of Hamilton, said that the Catholic Church on the Island had never had segregated services.

But he admitted the Catholic Church had never had much impact on the black community in Bermuda since it became established here in 1858 and has no black priests on the Island.

And the small number of black Catholics almost invariably come originally from the Caribbean.

The Catholic Church however, has a strong Portuguese flavour, with many of its almost 9000 members being Portuguese-born or of Portuguese descent.

Bishop Kurtz said: "I don't think there was a conscious effort not to include black people. There were efforts made, but it didn't work.'' He added: "Maybe we could do more to make black people feel welcome, but what to do, I don't know. In the future we need to look at that a bit more.

"The Catholic Church in Africa is one of the strongest areas of the church in terms of growth. The Pope has visited there several times and it's a very vibrant church. I think some of that vibrancy could be brought to Bermuda.''