Many people don't want to know what you have written about abortion and many don't want anyone else to know. But I am proud to stand with you against this crime. Anyone with an ounce of decency can see that the baby you pictured on page 20 should be loved, not tortured and killed. - Marvin Ackers, Dodge City, Kan.

I am very upset at a situation created by your Feb. 1 issue. Yesterday morning my 11-year-old daughter brought me your magazine and showed me a graphic illustration of a D&E abortion. She was quite upset. Your magazine has robbed my daughter of some of her innocence and I will not be renewing my subscription. - Suzi Schneman, Farmer City, Ill.

While I agree that Lynn Vincent's article needed to be published, I would have appreciated a warning on the cover of this issue. - Leslie Walker, Terra Vista, Calif.

Abortion is tolerated because the gruesome nature of the procedure is rarely discussed in mixed company. Even the abortion lobby is aware of the queasiness their supporters often have over the procedure. Your drawings revolted me, but please continue to educate people this way. Indeed, if ultrasound pictures can in part be credited with reduced abortions, so too perhaps can grisly, detailed photos of life being snuffed out in the name of choice. - Christian Farley, Clifton Park, N.Y.

In your headline, you wrote that this procedure "accounts for the deaths of thousands of other viable babies." We hard-core pro-lifers are very sensitive to the word viable because it implies that killing an unborn human after viability is somehow worse than doing it before. - Donald S. Smith, La Mirada, Calif.

I thought partial-birth abortion with its painful death for the baby was the new low. I was wrong; the D&E method seems slower and even more painful. The lies and hypocrisy are overwhelming. How can California officials disobey abortion reporting laws? It makes it hard to remember that our enemy is Satan and not the misguided abortion proponents. - Bob Ahlers, Fredericksburg, Va.

Thanks to them

Thank you for the article by J.D. Wetterling ("Tomcat top guns," Feb. 1). We often hear about the wonderful new advances in warfare technology, but we forget that someone has to be able to use this equipment. The Tomcat fighter pilots and their RIOs are teams that the country should be especially grateful for, as we should be for all the men and women who give their time, talents, and sometimes their very lives for the country they love. - Joyce Meyer, Jamison, Pa.

It was with great interest and pride that I read the account of an F-14 pilot, but I was shocked to see my own feeble role (I'm an engineer with GE Aircraft Engines) mentioned with disrespect. Our hero K-robb was in a plane with "an aging engine built by the lowest bidder." Ouch! As if these precision machines were not designed and built with tender loving care by Americans with fervent passion for their sons and neighbors who are Navy pilots. - Mike Paradis, Lebanon, Ohio

Just dumb

More dumbing down of America is a perfect explanation for such nonsense regarding our immigration/citizenship requirements ("Fear of commitment," Feb. 1). We have become so lax about protecting what the Founding Fathers established that it is no wonder there is such ambiguity as to citizenship, loyalty, and allegiance. People who do not desire to become an American citizen should have short-term visas to visit and then be required to return to their country of origin. - R.N. Roberts, Kilgore, Texas

In time of war, any citizen declaring allegiance to the enemy instead of the U.S.A. should not be allowed to stay in this country. Also, in time of peace, any person seeking dual citizenship should be legally obliged to agree that in case of a future war with the other country, either that person agrees to full allegiance to the United States or deportation. - Jeff Schicke, Wharton, N.J.

Carver high-er

I greatly appreciated Marvin Olasky's column on George Washington Carver and Booker T. Washington ("Carver's affirmations," Feb. 1). It is a shame that these two worthy gentlemen have not been honored more. - LeNore C. Ketchum, Fleetwood, N.C.

I was delighted to read Marvin Olasky's tribute to George Washington Carver. He became my hero when I read about him in a 3rd-grade textbook I was teaching from. He knew what God had called him to do, and he never wavered. - Marian Woodhead, Lake Jackson, Texas

Talking translation

Thank you for reviewing The Word of God in English ("Lost in translation," Feb. 1). Leland Ryken's case for more literal Bible translation is convincing. - John Woodward, Sevierville, Tenn.

I wish Joel Belz would give the opposition as fair a hearing regarding the translation issue. Every text has multiple meanings and every translator must pick and choose which to accurately carry across to the target language and which to leave behind. There is a place for both kinds of translation, literal and dynamic equivalence, without the kind of animosity we keep reading in WORLD. - Tom Pittman, Bolivar, Mo.

With the planned obsolescence built in to so many of the consumer goods we purchase today, we should not be surprised that Bible publishers try to one-up each other. The church is practically drowning in translations, and we do not need any more-not even Mr. Ryken's ESV. - Dan Edelen, Mt. Orab, Ohio

A killing field

It was appalling to read how abortionists kill a baby in the womb by tearing its limbs and skull off ("Piece-by-piece abortion," Feb. 1). I prayed for our nation. Then I heard about the shuttle disaster on TV and that body parts had been found in a Texas field. More prayer. As a WWII veteran, I've never forgotten the horror of viewing body parts. Our brave astronauts and military people all face death by their own choice. When a parent makes the choice of death for an innocent child, I'm saddened by the shame of American hypocrisy. WORLD calls the U.S. "both a city on a hill and a swamp at the base of the hill." I think instead it's a killing field. - Lloyd P. Jonas, Taunton, Mass.

I lay awake last night for hours, appalled as a result of "Piece-by-piece abortion." How is this destruction understandable in a supposedly civilized society? Imagine a pair of giant vice-grips ripping a 27-year-old adult limb from limb; that's just an enlargement of a barbarism advocated by millions of educated Americans. What kind of people are we? - Gordon E. Donaldson, Phoenix, Ariz.

Thank you for publishing the horrific truth about abortion. My wife and I have a 20-week-old baby, our first. We love talking, reading, and praying with him. Everything about our child brings us joy. Imagine our joy when we finally lay eyes on him. - John David Hardy, Starkville, Miss.