SO, Tony Blair joined the Roman Catholic Church just before Christmas. Why did he not have the strength of his convictions to convert while Prime Minister?

No, his faith was not strong enough to put his political position at risk. So he continued to live yet another lie while nominating bishops to the Church of England, supporting abortion and the ordination of women. Yet another cynical economy of the truth to cling onto the reins of power for as long as possible, putting his ambitions above his so-called deeply held faith.

If anything, the Roman Catholic Church is even more cynical. No matter that Mr Blair was instrumental in starting an illegal war in Iraq that has led to the deaths of at least 700,000 people, or responsible for sending troops to Afghanistan to fight a war that can't be won with inadequate kit.

Mr Blair should be facing a war crimes tribunal, not being given special treatment by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster, in a special ceremony that ordinary converts are denied.

Could it be that the Catholic Church has joined the masses in worshipping at the altar of celebrity and now cares little for morality or what sins their converts committed?

Leslie Rowe, Green Party Parliamentary Candidate, Richmond, North Yorkshire.

I FEEL sorry that politicians, such as Nick Clegg and Tony Blair, have revealed their religious or nonreligious ideologies to the public.

Politics and government are mostly about what affects all people as people - such daily matters as, say, the NHS, coastal erosion and child road safety. Policies and their results thus surely deserve judging on their own political/technical merits and faults.

One of the apparent reasons why Soviet communism failed was its insistence that the party ideology came first, rather than just getting the best person for the job.

In rare and extreme instances, even a government with depraved ideology - such as that of Adolf Hitler - could come up with a useful and beneficial idea (the Volkswagen) which has superbly outlasted the obnoxious Nazi ideology itself. But this is naturally no excuse for Nazism.

Conversely, "political religion"

has caused division as between "Christian" communities in Northern Ireland, and has sparked mass murder between the Sunni and Shia denominations of Islam in Iraq, etc.

So I hope that any MPs and councillors who might read this letter will not feel forced to follow Messrs Clegg and Blair, but will feel relaxed if they choose to enforce their personal freedom to keep their religion and other sorts of status to themselves.

E Turnbull, Newcastle.