And your mail comes through the U.S. Postal Service, via e-mail, and by fax. All of your letters are read—though, alas, we had room to publish only a small percentage of the more than thirteen hundred missives we received in 1998. The article that received the greatest response last year was the Special News Report on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), published in June as the Southern Baptists were preparing to take their annual convention to Salt Lake City. In second place were your reactions to our editorial on the death penalty, "The Lesson of Karla Faye Tucker" (April 6), followed by Timothy Weber's article about "How Evangelicals Became Israel's Best Friend" (Oct. 5).

Keep those letters coming in 1999. Your response to CT is helpful to us, and it is of interest to many other readers who share your views and concerns. We appreciate hearing from you.

Fantastic art work that touched my heart [Cover, Dec. 7, 1998]! Such a moving concept of the Nativity, showing the complete exhaustion of Mary having just delivered a child as well as the "so real" portrayal of the fragile baby Jesus, also exhausted from his struggle to be born. Finally, we have a Joseph who is not merely an observer but a man contemplating with awe this miracle and wondering, with apprehension, his role in this Child's future.

This is a tender, realistic rendering of the way Christ's birth probably was.

Gilbert Meilaender's "Biotech Babies" [Dec. 7] was a thoughtful, clear exposition of ideas few have yet thoroughly considered, much less attempted to express. However, when I closed the magazine, I happened to see once again the cover picture of Mary, Joseph, and baby ...