As an associate member of the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF), I was informed that the prime minister was invited to open the 'International consultation on globalisation' sponsored by the World Evangelical Fellowship (WEF) in his capacity as the nation's statesman as he is well-versed on the subject of globalisation and has articulated his views to the world community.

I generally share the views of An Ashamed Evangelical ('May God forgive us for our silence', May 7), particularly his abhorrence of the use of strong-arm tactics to silence the opposition as well as the 'appalling silence' that we Christians often regress to. However, I disagree with his contention that it was a mistake to invite Dr Mahathir Mohamad to open the general assembly.

This assembly is an international assembly and the prime minister is after all our nation's leader (like it or not though some of us don't). There are more issues than one. We must get our priorities right. "Be as wise as a serpent and as innocent as doves". The fight for human rights is an important one but let us do it in the right arena. We should not forget the ballot box; many of us failed miserably there. We should not underestimate the power of public opinion; many of us are conditioned into thinking it's futile.

In a way, every nation, group of people deserve the government they get. Don't expect the NECF or any other organisation to fight your fight as an individual if you are unwilling to do so.

I disagree with the contention of Just Another Evangelical ('Best left to God', May 9) that "surely our leaders in the NECF are knowledgeable and reasonably logical enough to have made this decision....so please avoid bringing up a controversy!" As Ivanhoe ('Matthew's words taken out of context', May 10) says, "to err is human, and leaving everything to our leaders is not the kind of thing that Christ would recommend."

We should respect leaders or, at least, their office. But following leaders unquestioningly is paternalism. If you want a paternalistic government or a 'kind dictatorship' to continue, please vote for Mahathir at the next election!