Readers Write (Oct. 4): Marriage equality, Vikings stadium, Wall Street protests, Al-Awlaki killing

Who is to decide whether or not "the state is out of step" (editorial, Oct. 1)? No poll or vote taken here in Minnesota has broached this subject that I know of.

Until that happens, no one has the right to decide what the people of Minnesota are supporting or not supporting. After all, the "people" are the "state" in a democratic society.

The Catholic Church and other denominations are firmly against gay marriage and should have the same press coverage as those who support it. I would love to see a rebuttal by one of these organizations, in bold print, in order to have a fair debate on this subject.

Christians who hold to biblical truths should have the same voice as those who don't in our free society. It is not obvious to the Star Tribune that Christians are a majority of the state's population. This would definitely frighten those who desire to let the minority rule instead of the majority.

SHARON SWERDFIGER, OSAKIS, MINN.

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To be sure, church leaders "have full authority to say what they want to say" ("Church leaders preach politics and flout law," Oct. 2). But then they ought to campaign (and conduct commercial business) without tax exemptions. But such evasions are so overarching, and so difficult to prevent, that piecemeal enforcement is ineffective. Solution: All churches should give up their tax exemptions. Then they could openly do whatever they want.

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Our culture, specifically the family unit, is in grave danger of losing all sense of morality and emotional stability. The teaching of the Bible has been a steady source of wisdom for the families of our nation over the past 300 years.

We believe the Catholic Church and all Bible-teaching churches should stand up and speak boldly against same-sex marriages as taught by the Scriptures, and that the Star Tribune shouldn't use its editorial power to stand against it unless it plans to have an equally well-positioned editorial for the churches' involvement in the issue.

We aren't going to use this venue for our arguments, as they are long and well-thought-out, but rather we want to let you know that there are millions of us in this nation who are against same-sex marriages, and we will express our voices. Please don't try to silence us.

JOHN AND LORINDA DONALDSON, Eden Prairie

The entire influence of the Catholic Church in this matter could easily be offset by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The ELCA took the radical step of ordaining gays and lesbians as pastors in 2009, and now it is time for it to step up to the plate and make a hard charge for gay marriage in the 2012 election. Is the ELCA going to walk the walk or just talk the talk?

TOBY WALDOWSKI, WOODBURY

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To summarize the Sept. 30 editorial ("Dodging liability in the stadium game"): The king knows what is good for his subjects. All his subjects need to do for their king's wisdom is to pay, even if they disagree violently. Seems to me that some folks went though this scenario in the 1700s and established something called a democracy.

FLORIAN LAUER, ST. PAUL

Seven hundred people were arrested after taking their two-week-old protest to the Brooklyn Bridge (Nation+World, Oct. 2). Twenty years from now, will these protesters be known as heroes, or will this movement fizzle soon and be forgotten?

What the movement known as "Occupy Wall Street" has going for it is the fact that it is branching out across the country (including an "Occupy MN" protest set to begin this Friday). Furthermore, various celebrities are supporting it.

So what's going to stop this movement from being successful? For starters, the media. For the first few weeks, the only media coverage it got was from Keith Olbermann, who was yelling at the rest of the media for not covering it.

Another problem is that the movement's goals/objectives are ambiguous. Perhaps organizers are trying to garner as many followers as possible, but a lot of people would want to know what the main cause is before they take time off from work or school to start protesting on the streets for what could be months.

Unlike with the Arab Spring, an overthrow of government is not necessary in America, but I think it's about time the people begin to exercise their First Amendment rights and protest what they think is a system that's currently more concerned with politics than the interests of its people.

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The gloating triumphalism of our government -- and the media -- over the murder of Al-Qaida operative Anwar al-Awlaki only adds to the evil of conducting U.S. foreign policy by execution.

We pretend to stand for the rule of law, but we don't bother with arrest and trial; we simply execute those we consider deserving.

Suppose other nations had the technology of drones armed with heat-seeking missiles. What would the United States say and do if Iran, North Korea or China were to murder Americans they consider deserving?

We should be ashamed of ourselves, and we should quit wondering why others might hate us.