Religion and good morals don’t always go together

I have always been impressed by Ross Gittins’ capacity to critically assess important issues. I was surprised, then, when I read his latest column (“My Easter sermon: How to Trump-proof our society”, April 21). Gittins makes the fundamental error of assuming organised religion engenders altruism and belief in the common good. There is, in fact, little evidence to suggest that “reduced religious adherence leads to less ethical behaviour”. One only needs to look at the supercilious and self-serving language of the religious right in both America and Australia, and of Trump himself, to see that dogmatic beliefs actually encourage the sort of behaviour Gittins is worried about. I agree that we need to guard against becoming a society that ignores moral imperatives, but we need to consider how “love your neighbour as yourself” has played out through Christian churches over the centuries. Mark d’Arbon, Bolton Point

So JD Vance purports to be a Catholic. Really? He clearly doesn’t follow the beliefs of the Catholic faith given his actions and comments on the world stage and his strong support for the decisions that Trump is making in America. His visit to the Vatican City over Easter can only be seen as one of the most breathtaking acts of hypocrisy of 2025 – so far. Kip Morel, Pyrmont

I have always admired Ross Gittins and valued his opinions, until today. For him to imply that all people who identify as non-Christians are selfish and self-interested is disappointing. One of the reasons I am a non-Christian is because of the appalling self-interest, judgmental and hypocritical behaviour I witness and read about every day. I have good friends who are true Christians and follow the teachings of Jesus, but they are an exception, not the rule. I also have good Muslim friends and other non-Christian friends who are also “good people”. Gittins may want to label only Christians as good and unselfish people, but he should look to American Christians, who are partly responsible for the rise of Trump and rethink that generalisation. I advise him to read more of Tim Costello’s articles (“Trump and Musk are destroying the world, but there’s a way we can counter this,” April 20). Barbara Tregear, Ashfield

I usually agree with Ross Gittins, but not his suggestion that reduced religious adherence may lead to less ethical behaviour. Politicians with ill intent, from time immemorial, have told their gullible supporters that God is on their side to give them the illusion of moral rectitude. Trump and others have seen the value in courting religious votes. Take out the religion, and leave the ethics to stand the test of clear scrutiny. Gordon Stenning, Seaforth

Gittens reduces Christianity to a belief about what is right and what is wrong. Such a belief is hardly likely to encourage church attendance. We don’t need religion to tell us what is right and wrong, our hearts already tell us that. Christianity goes further to promise us compassion, forgiveness and mercy. Mark Porter, New Lambton

I would think the only thing coming from the religious mix of the supernatural and morality is confusion and incredulity. We live in a world where truth aligns with what is real, not what is magical, and there is not one precept provided by religion that cannot be matched by rational secular humanism. No Ross Gittins, we don’t need religion, but we do need your sage financial advice, which always comes free of any supernatural intervention. Trevor Somerville, Illawong

Public disservice

It speaks volumes about Peter Dutton’s attitude to the role of the public service, and government in general, that he even contemplates the return to influence of Mike Pezzullo, someone who “breached the public service code of conduct on at least 14 occasions” (“Dutton wants Pezzullo to ‘play a role’ on national stage”, April 21). Clearly Dutton is only interested in listening to those who will accept his view of people he regards as alien to his world view and who can easily be scapegoated for political advantage. Meanwhile, he’s eager to dispense with 41,000 public servants. Forget any ethics, fairness or the disruption to those people’s lives and the services they provide. All that sounds an awful lot like Trump’s America to me. Adrian Connelly, Springwood

Peter Dutton has generously agreed that the disgraced bureaucrat Mike Pezzullo should serve in his future government. Note the uncanny parallel with Donald Trump, who has stacked his team with sycophants. One more reason Dutton should be voted to continue to lead the opposition. Ramani Venkatramani, Rhodes

Peter Dutton claims one of his strengths during the Voice referendum was to “guide the debate”. The Coalition’s bumper sticker approach was “If you don’t know, vote no”. What a celebration of ignorance and laziness that was. Yet in Dutton’s revisionist approach, apparently it was guiding the debate. Edward Grieve, Woolloomooloo

Who is checking the Labor Party attack adverts about Peter Dutton? Labor has lied its way through this campaign and looks likely to win the election because it has not been held to account over what it is saying about the opposition. The lies are about its own performance as a government, about any subject that is not on the woke agenda, and its just wants to hold on to power at any cost to continue wrecking our beloved country. If the unions’ money can be used to spend big on these election ads, our country is doomed to failure when Labor is elected. Don Ayres, Belmont

I run a community music camp for schoolchildren (“Dutton’s pledge to launch national paedophile register,” April 19). Our staff come from NSW, Victoria, SA, ACT, Queensland and WA, so we have to navigate six completely different Working With Children Check regimes, each with its own idiosyncrasies and complications. A nationwide WWCC scheme would be a very helpful reform for those of us who actually work in the area, but I suspect sensible suggestions will be too much to expect when Mr Dutton yet again sees profit in panic-merchant hyperventilation. Alastair McKean, Greenwich

Peter Dutton is neither a scientist or an economist (Letters, April 19). The fastest growing electricity generation system in the world by far is the solar voltaic panel, invented and further developed by the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering at the University of New South Wales. The International Energy Agency advises that solar and wind electricity generation is being installed five times faster now than all other new electricity sources combined and that renewable generation capacity added globally in the next five years will be triple that added in the past seven years. The reason for the rapid growth of renewable energy is that it is the lowest cost and quickest to construct source of new electricity. Maybe Planet Dutton needs to speak with some scientists and economists on Planet Earth before spouting energy (or any other) policies. John Bushell, Surry Hills

Blind eye to gambling

Why do governments seem so reluctant to get rid of gambling advertising (“PM stalled action on gambling ad reform”, April 21)? Of course, it must be the revenue. The blind eye that bureaucracy has taken to this insidious form of revenue-raising is intolerable. Night after night on TV, gambling companies encourage the public to “give it a go”, with the mildest of caveats at the end. The $32.5 billion Australians lose on gambling each year is apparently a world record. Is there not a better way to celebrate what one has achieved from a week’s work? Spreading hard-earned cash into more productive areas of one’s life seems to be a more positive alternative. Governments must change their approach and declare it’s not okay. Greg Vale, Kiama

We got poker machines in pubs during a period when it served the interests of many Labor politicians. Now we’ve got Minns’ failures on poker machine reform and our PM failing on controls over gambling advertising. The only sure bet in all of this is that Labor believes its voter base wants gambling and is happy to see it destroy families, rather than lead the real changes necessary. If only Labor thought giving voice to the victims of gambling was important. Brian Barrett, Padstow

Skewed statistics

As a recently retired surgical specialist, I am disappointed with the “furore” in the Herald over discrimination in the healthcare system (“Ella was misdiagnosed and locked in a psych ward at 19 weeks pregnant”, April 21). Missed diagnosis and delayed diagnosis is common in healthcare for many reasons. This despite our enormous advances in medical imaging and investigations. But claiming that this is happening due to “medical misogyny” is a gross assumption and it may not even be true. It is well recognised that women, especially younger women, are much bigger “consumers” of healthcare than men. So you would expect them to be in the majority of those reporting misdiagnoses (Medical misogyny series, April 20). Furthermore, it is well recognised that men tend to present late, if at all when getting sick, which produces a diagnostic bias between men and women for the attending clinician. Finally, putting out a call on the Herald asking women who think they have been subject to medical misogyny to speak up will produce results: what these results represent in terms of a true bias against women is hard to know. But there will be outrage. You will be producing sensational but not statistically significant results. Jan Swinnen, Strathfield

Marks matter

Let’s stop beating around the bush. If, based on parental feedback, the Department of Education boffins really want schools to send out reports that are plain and unambiguous, then it’s time to throw out the weasel words and return to the plain truth told by marks and grade averages (“Use plain English: The words banned from school reports,” April 21). Numbers don’t lie or sugarcoat the truth. Somehow, though, I doubt this generation of TikTok parents is ready for the plain truth, which is that most children are average, some will fail and only one student can come first. Irene Buckler, Glenwood

This article reminded me of a (possibly fictional) remark on a school report in Britain many years ago. “The dawn of legibility in his handwriting reveals his utter incapacity to spell.” Rosemary Breen, Inverell

Vote mindfully

Doug Richards’ threat to vote for the party with the least corflutes is childish (Letters April 21). Yes, it is annoying to be bombarded with election candidates advertising themselves but we are blessed with a truly egalitarian voting system. Not all candidates have Clive Palmer-sized budgets for advertising. Are you seriously suggesting you would research candidates for your electorate without a bit of prompting? In this crazy world, I think we all should take the responsibility of choosing a candidate seriously. Christina Foo, Wahroonga

I am saddened that your correspondent’s criterion for whom he will vote is based on corflutes. In Australia, our vote still counts, unlike in many other countries. I would like to think that Australian voters will value that privilege when they vote. Sue Martin, Clareville

Great grates

Your correspondent refers to “this great country” (Letters April 21). Like flag-waving and pseudo-patriotism, I cringe at the word “great”. The citizens of many nations have reasons to be proud. Some have substantial culture (India, China), others monuments (Egypt), scenery (Norway, Peru, Canada), high living standards with genuine democracy (most of the Scandinavian countries). I’m sure there are many more examples. While Australia is undoubtedly a land of opportunity, it also has quite a few anomalies – an increasing difference between rich and poor, subtle political bribery (euphemistically called donations) and cruel treatment of the Indigenous people. It’s a fine line between chest-thumping and self-effacement. Even Great Britain is now commonly referred to as Britain. Ashley Berry, Toolijooa

US on the slide

It’s disturbing to see the US sliding into a civilian version of the military dictatorships of 1970s and 80s Argentina and Chile. Trump and his MAGA partners have staged a coup. Trump is now exploring ways to send US citizens to El Salvador (“Dictatorship 101: send people to rot in foreign hellholes,” April 21). How long before he adopts the South American practice of dropping dissidents in the ocean? Paul Doyle, Glenbrook

Donald Trump’s withdrawal of the US as the “leader of the free world” is a great opportunity for the world to reorganise itself. Contrary to George Brandis’ opinion, there is no need to have one single leader, including the UK (“Who leads the free world now the US has vacated the stage?” April 21). Trump’s policies have surely made us realise that it is better to form regional groups with shared history, geography and economic ties. Perhaps this will help all countries grow up and realise we are able to make our own decisions, rather than let the US or even the UK decide. The US did not always lead the world. Manbir Singh Kohli, Pemulwuy

Bad choice of words

Hillary Clinton may well have thought she was right in referring to Trump supporters as “deplorables” but it lost her the US election in 2016 (Letters April 21). Only 70,000 more votes for her in key counties and states, which were populated by the people she put down in such terms, would have given us a totally different world today. Be careful what you say. John Burman, Port Macquarie

Peg camping fees

The proposed changes to camping fees in our national parks are unfair (“Winners and losers: Hefty price hikes to camp in national parks,” April 21). Camping fees that increase by up to 55 per cent in peak season are not affordable for many campers locked into school holidays, and will become too expensive for many families and solo travellers. Lynne Widdup, Yarramalong

Market forces

When did we change our everyday language from “saving for a home” to “getting into the housing market”? Beth Hansen, Alstonville

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