Mike, I hate to tell you this, but I noticed your letter ;-)
Henders hits a home run…
Refuge from the regrettable
Good on the doctors who organise pro bono medical care for asylum seekers ("Doctors rally to offer free care for refugees”, March 3). Asylum seekers on a Bridging Visa E are forced into destitution because they are denied work rights, Centrelink assistance and Medicare. The Immigration Minister, Chris Evans, recently spoke of the “many regrettable immigration matters left unresolved by the Howard government”. The bridging visa, introduced in 1997, is not only regrettable, it is senseless and unsustainable. It is salutary that pro bono professionals, asylum seeker support networks, community groups, churches and individuals are filling the gaps by helping bridging visa holders with food and other basic necessities.
During a trip to Newcastle [for my mother’s funeral, I think] I saw an article by a Uniting Church minister in Newcastle which referred to David Morrison’s letter in the SMH about the earliness of Easter this year, and went on to say that Easter is about more than chocolate and enjoying ourselves.
The article went on to discuss a Happiness conference in Sydney which featured the Dalai Lama and other worthies.
But the last speaker told them all that instead of asking about how to be happy, we should be asking about how can we make a contribution that will make a difference for others in our community.
The author said that if life is about being happy, we should all go and get drunk and stay drunk.
[Sounds a bit like Canned Heat’s Going Up the Country.]
MICHELLE Coleman’s description of her father’s death is tragic, but it ignores the sinister side of the euthanasia debate.
Allowing doctors to kill patients would immediately create a class of vulnerable people who would be marked for death for quality of life reasons, rather than because they were suffering symptoms of a terminal illness.
I wonder whether Ms Coleman would feel the same way if good quality palliative care had been provided in her father’s final days.
EUTHANASIA proponents are systematic of this culture’s alarm at anything painful. We have successfully institutionalised many aspects of pain and death.
Now, when it comes close to home, we demand the government save us from painful damnation. Colin Gibbs (Letters, 11/3) fails on several levels to recognise the gravity of the euthanasia debate. Firstly, one’s free will is not automatically a right to do whatever you choose.
Politicians are duly cautious because, for the first time in history, nations are altering the medical profession’s fundamental purpose, to care for life.
I encourage Gibbs and others to study the horrific cases taking place in euthanasia-friendly countries such as the Netherlands, where vulnerable people are being killed without consent because a doctor or family member thinks their quality of life is not up to scratch.
We should be thankful for wonderful advances in palliative care that mean most of us avoid the natural, normal suffering associated with our last days.
It is always wrong to advance a greater evil (state sanctioned assisted-suicide) to reduce a lesser evil (temporary pain and suffering).
It’s a sad indictment of the Herald that your main concern about people being killed in terrorist attacks in Pakistan is that the cricket is cancelled ("Bombs halt cricket tour”, March 12).
Scott Donnellan, Port Macquarie
Scott is a Presbyterian minister at Port Macquarie.
Following Mike Doyle’s outstanding piece of serious commentary, I thought I’d mention this submission I made that appeared in Joe Hildebrand’s Saturday column in Gordon’s rag of choice, The Daily Telegraph:
Derek C from Merrylands is the clear winner of this week’s Deborah Cameron song-a-thon with this standout composition:
Whatever happened to me?
I can’t believe it myself.
Somehow I’m still on seven-o-two
They could’ve got somebody else.
Believe it or not Deb Cameron’s on air
I never thought it could still be me
Trying away on a wing and a prayer
Who could it be?
Believe it or not it’s still me
The rest of you can now resume talking about insignificant & trivial issues like life and death.
The people of Tibet are hoping that the rest of the world will do something to stop their destruction. What have we done so far? Nothing. As long as the West values it’s relationship with China in terms of trade then nothing will continue to be done. The response is defined by our previous prime minister’s response: he recognised, he said, China’s sovereignty over Tibet. He went on to say that it was not in our national interest in to interfere in Tibet. If such gutless and mercenary responses were typical the world would be in worse shape than it is now. They also allow China to take a tighter grip on Nepal. What if, like Japan once did, they desire a wider power over South East Asia? Will we appease them further?
If ever there was a country in need of regime change China is it. Their practices both in Tibet and Nepal, and inside China itself, are similar to the totalitarian regime of Stalin. However, since China has a financial whip hand over the USA, dramatically increased by President Bush’s massive borrowings for his illegal war, nothing will be done. The Iraq war also poses a problem for the West, since it ignored the rule of law and provides an eloquent excuse for China to ignore any protests.
The expression “thirty pieces of silver” comes to mind.
David Ashton
And what the SMH printed....
The people of Tibet are hoping the rest of the world will do something to stop their destruction. But as long as the West values its trading relationship with China, nothing will be done. The response is defined by our previous prime minister: he recognised China’s sovereignty over Tibet and said it was not in our national interest to interfere.
If ever there was a country in need of regime change, China is it. However, since China has the financial whip hand over the US, dramatically increased by President Bush’s borrowings for the Iraq war, nothing will be done. That war also poses a problem for the West, since it ignored the rule of law and provided an eloquent excuse for China to ignore any protests.
Whatever church or belief system it is associated with, Mercy Ministries is an affront to the Gospel I believe ("They sought mercy, but got exorcism and Bible studies”, March 17). That women in need of assistance were thus treated makes me ashamed and appalled that Christianity is associated with such horrendous practices. And Gloria Jeans, you can be assured my business is being taken elsewhere.
Ian Holder, Bossley Park
The Church of England produces accounts every year. Why is Hillsong “not required to produce accounts” ("The ties that bind”, March 17)?
Is it to impress God that people practise abstinence and wear special colours during Lent? I doubt if God would be so easily swayed by our outward displays. Surely, it’s about the state of the heart, not the art.
Hendry Wan
Matraville
The Australian, Tuesday 18-3-2008
I’m baking hot-cross buns this week. Would it be religiously insensitive to serve them for morning tea at a multi-faith workplace?
What can Wan man do? (I’ve been waiting to use that for days):
age:
Doubting Danny?
THREE things are certain in life: Good Friday, Easter Sunday and their denunciation. Bets on publicity-hungry clerics, writers or scholars stirring up some controversy with their dressing down of Jesus’ divinity and resurrection. If it’s not some esoteric discovery purporting to throw new doubts on Jesus then it’s some reinterpretation of biblical material to assuage post-modern sensibilities. There is nothing new under the sun. Doubting Thomas will poke Jesus, perhaps with a different finger each time. Even so, it’s the same pair of hands.
Hendry Wan, Matraville
Also on the same topic in the age, the moody man is in with lead letter, and there were a couple of other good ones:
Something more than buns and eggs
DANNY Katz writes about the whacko differences between religions but there are also important similarities: all the great faiths look beyond this world and fret about what will happen when we die. All religions acknowledge that there is something wrong with humans and that something needs to be done to bring us back to God.
The distinctive message of Christianity — the “Good” of Friday — is that whatever is wrong between us and God, Jesus has already died to mend it. Because of Jesus’ death we can be reconciled to God no matter what we have done. There is forgiveness without denial of guilt. There is liberation from the need to think of ourselves as better than others. There is something better than over-priced buns and tasteless chocolate eggs. I know, it all sounds strange, but if you think about it for a while it turns out to be the most sane thing of all.
Andrew Moody, Blackburn South
Try a little love
DANNY Katz’s article “How religion can make us look like the Easter Bunny” (Metro, 20/3) highlights how our society’s celebration of Easter masks its true significance. Christians remember and commemorate and celebrate Easter for similar reasons Australians commemorate Anzac Day.
The words of Jesus Christ in John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this to lay down his life for his friends”, are repeated on innumerable rolls of honour throughout this country. Christians are in awe that God loves people so much that he died for us and paid the price for our sins. The good news of Easter is that this love offering is available to all who receive Jesus and believe in his name.
John Clarke, Dubbo, NSW
and also in the age:
I smell hypocrisy
I NOTICED that in his uproariously funny satire on religion, Danny Katz passed up the opportunity to take the micky out of Muslims. I presume that would have been due to lack of space?
Facts and friction of Easter - John Dickson in the Herald
Easter highlights the risky, even vulnerable, position of the world’s 2 billion Christians. I am not just thinking of the blockbuster headlines that frequently coincide with their holy days - the discovery of Jesus’ tomb (complete with his remains), reports of his marriage to Mary Magdalene, and so on…
From today’s SAT SMH here’s one letter writer who wasn’t convinced by
SMH Friday editorial :
A ripping yarn
What? The resurrected Christ didn’t even look like Jesus (Editorial, March 21)? Talk about Monty Python. I suppose just before he ascended to heaven he shouted “Look over there!”, and when the disciples returned their gaze the Messiah was gone. Nice editorial, but you ought to print actual news and leave the fables to those who still believe in them.
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