Your symposium “Did the War in Iraq Secure the Peace?” (Jan. 4-10) gave President Bush two out of five positive backings and, in my opinion, these two were the ones based most on faith and reason.

Having a symposium on the front page of your paper with a large photo of the president looking like he is on trial I think does more harm than good. However we the people feel about this, it is something that has happened. It will take many years to see the results in Iraq and in this world.

We as Catholics need to thank God that we have a good, moral president and we have to start learning how to come together as a group when we vote. There is enough confusion among Catholics and fostering these kinds of debates only adds to it. The only criteria when we vote is to ask if the candidate is for life — then everything else will fall into place.

Our state, New Jersey, has just passed a most reprehensible bill on cloning embryos. This in spite of our parish sending in 1,500 petitions, plus letters and phone calls to our governor and state Assemblymen. Massachusetts has passed same-sex marriage legislation. Do Catholics know about the constitutional amendment our pro-life representatives are trying to get through Congress that would override the states’ same-sex legislators? Are they encouraging our president in these matters instead of debating whether he did the right thing in Iraq? And do Catholics know how the United Nations has, for years, been pushing contraceptives and sterilization to the poor countries? Do we really want the United Nations to take over in Iraq?

We have a crucial year ahead of us. Let us hope and pray that Catholics will do the right thing in November and that your Catholic newspaper can help educate rather than divide your readers.

Marie Salvato

Brick, New Jersey

Was the war in Iraq prudent? Was it necessary? Most all of the articles [in the Register symposium] emphasized the question of whether or not Iraq actually had weapons of mass destruction. The more important question, and one that is very seldom discussed, is: Does a mass murderer's reign need to be ended? To me the answer is a resounding Yes.

Bob Dalton

Parker, Colorado