Hear All Sides

WAR ON TERRORISM

I COULD scarcely believe my eyes when I read Peter Mullen's article (Echo, Nov 13). Whoever chose that headline should consult some of the bombed and bereaved Afghans and/or New Yorkers on the wisdom of abandoning all moral considerations in a way which has disgraced the start of the third Christian Millennium.

The professedly Christian George W Bush failed to obey the New Testament teaching "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay" and Tony Blair, another Christian, seems unaware of Jesus's ban on fire from heaven on "enemy" heads (Luke 9, 51-56).

An irresponsible Parliament and weak-kneed Cabinet tolerated his following President Bush's war talk too readily, so that, as predicted, the bombing has infuriated the Islamic peoples of Asia and not just the criminal fanatics among them.

Peter Mullen rails against the IRA, yet completely misses the point that it required the acceptance of the peace process to end a century and a half of violence against the British occupation and imposed union following the 1798 rising. Of course great evil was done - by both sides - in what was seen as a freedom fight.

But it is unhelpful to call the Omagh outrage of 1998 "the Republican Movement's finest hour" when it is well known that it was perpetrated by peripheral dissidents and condemned by the IRA. - Frank McManus, Reader Emeritus, St Mary's CE, Todmorden.

YOUR Stock Exchange chaplain, Peter Mullen, wears a dog collar. I too wear a dog collar, but that's where the similarity ends.

His rantings about the "war against terrorism" (HAS, Nov 20) are reminiscent of the Bishop of London, Winnington-Ingram, during the First World War when he preached from the pulpit: "It is our duty to kill all Germans, even the good ones."

Really, Peter Mullen needs to get out of the Old Testament and into the New Testament where the God of war, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, becomes the God of love, compassion, peace as preached by Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount.

To read an article by a Christian priest who states: "Our war aim must be to kill as many of the Taliban as we can" is an absolute insult to those Christians who are endeavouring to live by the law of Christ rather than the law of Moses. He's said enough, let him now keep silent. - Rev J Stephenson, East Herrington.

BLASPHEMY

DAVID Blunkett wants to think very carefully of the possible consequences if he advocates the ancient laws against blasphemy should be scrapped (Echo, Nov 15).

There are always evil-minded people who will seize the opportunity to turn such freedom into a licence to see how far they can go, regardless of the distress it may cause.

The subject of the last successful prosecution in 1997, cited in the article, was horrendous enough. One can only imagine what warped things some people might say in order to shock, sell books, hit the headlines, get on TV, if the law is scrapped. The blasphemy law may be ancient, but our forefathers put it in place for a purpose; to remind everyone that God is to be honoured and worshipped, His name should never be taken in vain. - EA Moralee, Billingham.

BLOODY SUNDAY

THE military figures due to give evidence to the Saville Inquiry into the 1972 Bloody Sunday deaths will be allowed to do so from outside Ireland.

I myself have never been in Northern Ireland and I have no Irish connections, but I do understand the tense situation there which affects everybody in that province regardless.

One small step out of such tensions would be frankness. Another step would be equality. Fair legal procedures should be no less precious in Northern Ireland than in Great Britain or the Irish Republic - otherwise the two political-religious sides cannot, respectively, claim to have the standards essential for either a United Kingdom or a united Ireland.

This responsibility lies clearly upon the shoulders of the governing authorities.

Among other things, it surely means that the military leadership must get it into their minds that this is 2001 and not 1901, and that they can no longer demand legal privileges and immunities - as if in a military dictatorship - above the responsibilities of the democratic society which they serve. - E Turnbull, Gosforth.

SINGLE CURRENCY

WHEN the bad guy in a Western promises someone "a fair trial, followed by a hanging", everyone can see that justice is unlikely to be done.

When Tony Blair says we are committed to holding a referendum and joining the single currency, is it not equally obvious that the referendum on the euro is a sham, since they have already decided what is going to happen?

To be fair, no one ever said that the referendum will be decisive, only that it will be held; window dressing to disguise the fact that we are rapidly substituting an elected autocracy for really representative government.

I can foresee a time when democrats will regret the passing of the old House of Lords. It may have been something of an anachronism, but it had the power to impose some sort of brake on the damage that could be done by doctrinaire politicians with run-away majorities in the Commons. - TJ Towers, Durham.