I DO not profess to have the theological knowledge of Father Anthony Shaw (You Say, Thursday, May 13) and probably not that of Councillor Tom Wareing either, (You Say, Monday, May 11).

However, I disagree with the sentiments expressed by both these correspondents so far as women are concerned.

My experience of women priests is that they are fine women, absolutely sincere in their beliefs and devoted to their task.

Surely the reason that the 12 disciples were all male was due to the time and country in which they were living.

Coun Wareing talks of the sight of American service women violating Iraqi prisoners, saying it would be difficult to image anything worse than this to inflame Muslim opinion."

I believe in Western values. Unnecessary violence by any human being against another is to be deplored.

However, the fact that the aggressor in this case was, unusually, female is irrelevant. Far more often in life, it is male violence against females that we should worry about.

If Iraqi males regard women as inferior, that is awful.

So far as women's place in the Armed Forces is concerned, push-button technology has largely replaced muscular strength, as elsewhere in life. Generally speaking, women are at least as courageous as men. Therefore their modern role in the Armed Forces is justified and correct.

However, as Coun Wareing suggests, street savages are invariably male - all the more reason why women should not be condemned to a life of domestic drudgery serving men.

D E MARGRETT,

Worcester.