I WRITE as the world reels with the shock of the horrendous attack on America. Perhaps we will never know how many perished. We ask "How could anyone be so fanatical as to carry out such an attack?" Pictures of the tiny girl in one of the aircraft brought home the innocence of the victims and underlined the evil of the terrorists.

Talk of vengeance now fills the air. More killings, more hatred, more attacks, more vengeance ... How can the cycle be broken? Can the western nations have the courage and faith to follow Christ's teachings of love and forgiveness? When he was crucified he cried "Father, Forgive". Yet it is so hard to think of forgiveness with the terrible images of those collapsing towers still fresh in ones mind.

But is there a better way? To bomb Afghanistan might make us feel better but what will it achieve? Vengeance is easy. Forgiveness almost impossibly hard - but if the western nations seek God's help perhaps the impossible can be achieved, and the cycle of hatred and violence ended.

MALCOLM THOMPSON, Evangelist, Christ Church with St Mary's, Malvern.