The Advertiser Letters to the Editor, October 10

TODAY readers discuss the uneasy relationship between religion and politics, the plight of Leigh Creek, and ‘ridiculous’ tram suggestions.

TODAY readers discuss the uneasy relationship between religion and politics, the plight of Leigh Creek, and ‘ridiculous’ tram suggestions.

Hypochristians

SOME people are commenting that Australia should be selective on which refugees come in from Syria and other nations; some are even saying that they should be Christian.

George Bush, Tony Blair and many other world leaders are Christians and that didn’t stop them from ordering bombings, invasions and sanctions.

Most Australians, Americans and the West in general is Christian. So what.

Many Christians are complete utter hypocrites and just because you are Christian does not make you more righteous.

I know many miserable, greedy and hypocritical Christians. The church does have a very useful purpose in Australia-by raising a lot of money for their leaders to enjoy, which is of course tax free.

PHILIPPE ARMSTRONG, Pasadena.

Church and state

COMMONLY ignored in the debate and commentary on Islam is the ideology’s total integration of Church and State. So when using the word politics it means religion and when using religion it means politics. To pretend otherwise is to treat the audience as fools.

JAMES HEIN,

Hackney.

Fools’ errands

“WE’RE not fools, so tell truth on terror” says Andrew Bolt (The Advertiser, 8/10/15).

His compelling case concludes that if some rebellious young man allegedly shouting “Allah” assassinates an innocent victim in cold blood, the criminal act is religiously and not politically motivated.

Political and police denials to the contrary beg the prickly question: Should they continue to be politically nice to nasty people or should they start being nasty to nice religious people?

NEIL LONGBOTTOM,

Minlaton.

Kunduz contrast

COMPARE and contrast. The US attacks and bombs a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. The US Special Operations Forces commander, Gen. John F. Campbell “took responsibility for the sustained bombardment of the medical facility”, killing 22 patients and hospital staff. That’s it.

When Malaysia Flight MH17 was shot down, deliberately or accidentally, the outcry demanding that Russian President Putin, be brought to justice was deafening.

I guess we operate under varying sets of rules, depending upon wether we come from the East or the West.

RICK DREWER

Gawler East

Murderous intent

WHY do we hide behind words? We’re talking premeditated murder. It’s quite obvious that over the years only one religious sect cannot integrate into our society. Why do we simply wait for the next act and the one after that?

We may have stopped the boats, but the seething malice and violence is here to stay unless we exclude this religious sect from our shores.

It’s time we became a bit more radical and took some affirmative action.

ELDERT HOEBEE,

Torrens Park.

Radical teachings

OUR government is living in a state of denial trying to appease a hard core group of Islamists who hate us and will never accept our way of life.

Islam is not just a religion it is totalitarian government controlling every aspect of peoples’ lives.

The Islamic Research and Educational Academy workshop was held at Deakin University over the long weekend.

The workshops included the teachings of Islamic scholars who have recommended the death penalty for homosexuals and apostates, promoted terrorism and preached hatred of Jews and Christians and violence against women.

The guys running it are using teachings of Dr Naik Zakir, an Indian Muslim preacher who is a medical doctor by education, and has been banned from countries including Britain, Canada and parts of India for his rhetorical support for terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.

The government is still scratching their heads, getting splinters under their finger nails, trying to figure out how these kids are being radicalised.

K J BEINKE,

Burton.

Post-mortem virgins

As a fellow traveller with Brian Morris and Stuart Jardine, I would like to propose a course of action that may go a long way to preventing incidents such as happened in Sydney recently.

Politicians and members of their community, though well meaning, are just chipping at the edges in their efforts to steer young people away from radicalisation and engagement in terrorist activities.

We need to deal with the main motivating factor that turns people into terrorists.

It goes like this.

Belief in the supernatural leads to belief in post-mortem existence. Belief in post-mortem existence leads to belief in the possibility of post-mortem reward.

Strong belief in post-mortem reward is the main motivating factor in those who engage in terrorist activities, particularly those involving the death of the perpetrator.

I am not suggesting that we attempt to convert them all into atheists like me.

However sowing the seeds of doubt may go a long way to prevent future terrorist acts and dissuade those who are tempted to join organisations such as ISIS.

Just present facts such as “Lots of intelligent people disagree with you’’, and give examples. Then challenge them with questions such as “What if you are wrong?’’. I think it is worth a try.

BARRY PLUSH,

Morphett Vale.

Being Human

BRIAN Morris’ claims for neuroscience and opinion polls (The Advertiser, 7/10/15) do nothing to address the issue of God’s existence that underlies religion.

Moreover, Brian’s identification of non-belief and progress is far from self-evident.

To my mind, the prior question is not about one’s right to non-belief or humour, but rather about the source of rights themselves in the nature of what it is to be human.

JOHN KELLY, Tranmere.

Signature event

RECENTLY my neighbour of five years qualified and wanted to become an Australian citizen. I wanted to sign his application but to my dismay I was not mentioned under the qualifying criteria.

Had I been a member of a union, association, serviceman/women, public servant, politician I would have qualified.

I am a returned serviceman, ex-federal public servant with over 35 years service but I was forced to disappoint my neighbour as I was not qualified or Australian enough for this purpose.

I contacted my Federal Labor member but never heard back. There’s probably no votes in it for him.

G.R. CAMPBELL,

Salisbury.

Mosques off mark

PAULINE Hanson is campaigning for a senate seat in Queensland and as usual is promoting her favourite theme, racism. She wants to ban the building of new mosques, Halal certification and Muslim refugees. Pauline has become very adept at using social media to get her message across therefore she would never dream of placing strong censorship on the internet, which brings me to my point.

The recent slaying of a NSW Police employee by a 15-year-old Muslim boy was sad and shocking. He visited his local mosque before the event, but laying blame for youth radicalisation with mosques is way off the mark. Remember Jake Bilardi? He was the youth with a Christian background and not of Middle Eastern heritage. He was seduced by ISIS over the internet and ended his life by becoming a suicide bomber. Instead of spreading fear and hate wouldn’t it be preferable to make the Muslim community feel more inclusive? It’s not as hard as some may think, as shown on Tuesday night’s excellent ABC program, “Cast From The Storm”.

JAN DOOLEY,

Wayville.

Leigh Creek vision

I HAVE had a long-held dream for Leigh Creek, the small town situated in a most beautiful part of the north of our state. Perhaps now, with the town’s long-term future uncertain, it is time for me to share that dream.

I have believed for many years that Leigh Creek, because of its location, has the potential to be Australia’s centre of education for indigenous people in Australia and could attract students from right across our wide land. I would like to see Leigh Creek established as an indigenous university town.

Within a year or two ample shared housing will be readily available for students, teachers, staff, and administration. This proposal is a once in a lifetime opportunity to establish an indigenous live-in university, together with TAFE, trade, and art schools. Such a large complex would sustain the present small business community, and the health and government support services, it would also create endless opportunities for a broad range of tourism and business activities for indigenous and non- indigenous Australians.

Leigh Creek has everything needed to be a successful university town, sporting facilities, an airfield, health services, and local government services, are already in place.

I am sure that there are many teachers who would welcome the challenge and the opportunity to work and live in this beautiful part of Australia.

Governments are always looking for projects that advance the cause for indigenous people, particularly in areas of employment, health and education. This project meets all three criteria. As a live-in university it should initially attract 700 students, this would sustain Leigh Creek, and add a further dimension to higher education for indigenous people. Please consider.

KEN MADIGAN, Port Pirie

No gagging here

I WISH to respond to the letter from Warren Jones (The Advertiser, 7/10/15) and the allegation that nurses at the Repat “had experienced, or had first hand knowledge of, gagging, intimidation and bullying”.

As Chief Executive Officer I take these claims very seriously.

I strongly encourage any of these nurses to report this directly to me, as I have not received any such reports to date. I give all staff my personal guarantee that reporting this information will not result in any repercussions or threats to future employment.

As has been communicated regularly at staff forums and through internal bulletins, there are many avenues for Repat staff to express their concerns and provide feedback.

There is a rich culture at the Repat and the staff deliver wonderful care. I am committed to ensuring that this continues into the future at other sites and supporting staff through the transition period over the next few years.

PROFESSOR BELINDA MOYES, Chief Executive Officer, Southern Adelaide Local Health Network

Gagging debate

PROFESSOR Belinda Moyes (The Advertiser 8/10/15) is correct, to a certain degree, that SA Health staff have not been gagged. I encounter many SA Health workers in my day to day life and each time the story is the same.

Staff are welcome to write a submission on their concerns of Transforming Health to their respective CEOs, but they are not allowed to go public with their concerns or they fear they will lose their job.

If Professor Belinda Moyes’s interpretation of not being gagged is staff being given the opportunity to quietly write to her where she can place their submission in her ‘in-basket’ then who has been “gagged”?

CAROLYN CROWLEY, Highbury

Loop to nowhere

I LAUGH to myself when the rhetorical suggestion arises of a city tram loop (The Advertiser, 8/10/15) for solving the residential population within the city centre.

As child living in the West End we used trams to leave Adelaide to our destinations and walked to keep us fit around Adelaide. The distance was in those days only one square mile. As for the ridiculous suggestion of a tram going down Gray Street in the loop because to put it along West Terrace would disrupt the main thoroughfare of West Terrace, one only has to measure the width of Gray Street to realise it was only ever suited for what we used it for and that was that it was a great place to kick a football!

MARJORIE BROWN, Glenunga