Priest has diminished all who were affected by the Holocaust horror

Priest Rod Bower should visit Auschwitz and educate himself on the horrors of the Holocaust.

I am appalled at Rod Bower’s latest attention-seeking demonstration in which he draws an analogy between the treatment of asylum-seekers on Manus and Nauru and life in a Nazi concentration camp (“Outspoken priest raises ire of Jewish groups”, 2/1).

In this self-promotional act he has demonstrated gross ignorance, insensitivity and so cruelly diminished all those who were forced to endure the worst horrors of life and death in those camps.

I suggest Bower immediately organise a visit to Auschwitz and other such camps and gain some insight and factual information, then return and post a sign of apology to the Jewish people.

Rebecca Wright, Potts Point, NSW

Rod Bower is right up there with those who would welcome people who hate us. No other explanation makes sense as to why the worst crime in modern history can be equated to the benign conditions on a Pacific island. But trashing the memory of those who were victims of a real Holocaust is clearly insufficient reason for Bower to miss a grandstanding opportunity to demonstrate his sick hubris.

Terry Davis, Lindfield, NSW

Just as it is inappropriate for bureaucrats or politicians to become publicly involved in religious disputes, the church has no legitimate business putting its oar into matters of state. If Rod Bower wishes to leap from priestly to political duties that is fine, but using his pulpit as a springboard is a cynically opportunistic tactic that serves nobody’s interests but his own.

J. R. Francis, Lauderdale, Tas

Pill testing not the answer

Recent deaths of festival goers consuming pills of unknown ingredients have led to calls for pill testing. There are three issues that should be considered as a counter to these calls.

First, there are now hundreds of synthetic cannabinoids, benzodiazepines, amphetamine types and opiates in circulation worldwide.

It is not possible for any testing facility to identify all of these and in a time frame for the owner of the substance to be able to make an informed decision as to whether he or she should take the pill.

Second, in order not to destroy the pill, the tester would need to scrape off a small amount.

Unlike pharmaceutical tablets, the ingredients in a pill are unlikely to be homogeneously mixed. In other words, merely taking a scraping may well miss the impurity buried elsewhere within the tablet.

Third, one of the deadliest substances circulating in 2018 was carfentanil, a highly potent synthetic opiate 10,000 times more potent than morphine.

Carfentanil has been found mixed with heroin and cocaine resulting in deaths in Britain. The drug is fatal in microgram amounts. It is not yet known what substance/s were the actual cause of recent deaths and near fatalities. But testing wouldn’t identify microgram amounts of substances such as carfentanil.

John Lewis, Centre for Forensic Science, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW

Two versions of Koran

Usman Mahmood (Letters, 2/1) is to be congratulated for speaking against religious violence. He says “no religion permits violence”. He must be reading a version of the Koran that’s different to the one used by terrorists. I’d like to read Usman’s Koran. It must be pleasant to read compared with the usual Koran that’s mostly gloom and doom for non-Muslims.

John Sparke, Maroubra, NSW

I refer Usman Mahmood to the “sword verses” of the Koran where killing of non-believers is encouraged. I suggest there is a need for a reformation in Islam. Aspects of Islam’s holy book are in total conflict with humanitarian ethics, Australian society and Christian ideals.

Tony Young, Blackbutt, Qld