PHILIP Freier is wrong to claim that all children benefit from learning about Christianity (Comment, 25/4).
I would suggest that many more children would benefit from the knowledge acquired through the skills of critical thinking and application of process and objective inquiry. In doing so, they will read his contribution, query the many questionable claims, and find the numerous faults. More importantly, they will unearth the none-too-subtle agenda of organised religion to curtail the virtues of an open mind.
Illustration: Ron Tandberg
As a parent, I will ensure that my children will have as little working knowledge of the Bible as possible. Instead, I will offer them the opportunity to read and be amazed by advances in science, or view documentaries from David Attenborough or Brian Cox. I will exercise my parental obligation to teach them on what I think is right and wrong, inform them of the true origins of morality, and provide them with the analytical and social tools to live and coexist in mainstream society.
As a result, not only will their minds be free from the shackles of superstition and the servility of religion, but they will know both, as I do, when they see it - or read it.
Royce Symons, Geelong West
Eyes off the ball
DESPITE all that has been written in The Age recently, I still wonder what it is that lies behind the controversy about religious education in schools.
Philip Freier puts a strong case for what is good and helpful about RE. It seems to me that the purpose and implementation of RE is being attacked because the system is not perfect in every way. Yet, there are many parts of our education system in much greater need of improvement.
Why has RE been singled out for such diverse and weak criticism when international measures show that Australia has declining literacy and numeracy, declining participation in mathematics by girls, persistent problems in educating indigenous and remote students, and inadequate provision for students with special needs?
If we think RE is the most important educational issue of the day, we have most certainly taken our eye off the ball.
Andrew Hill, Carrum
Matters of belief
PHILIP Freier falls into the same trap as Barney Zwartz: that teaching Christianity involves teaching about compassion and ethics. Only a small part of Christianity is about compassion and ethics.
Any fair teaching of Christianity must include a critical analysis of the existence and evidence for the supernatural in every aspect of life. It must also look at the full nature of Christianity's God in the scriptures, including the divinely ordered genocides, racism and sexism. If there is to be education about Christianity, it must move away from the fluffy Easter and Christmas cliches and examine the full nature of this often brutal belief system.
As Freier argues that ''to make an assessment of the truth … they must be given the information'', then Christianity should be one of the hundreds of supernatural beliefs - including animism, ghosts, spiritualism, druids - that children should be informed about.
Janine Truter, The Basin
The community demands
WE MUST not permit a few overly zealous and vocal secularists to drown out a program that affirms not only a historic and cultural world view of Australia, but represents the cultural affiliation for more than two-thirds of Australians today.
And as for Brian Porter, before leaping to wild generalisations such as ''there is no longer uniform confidence'', I suggest he carefully examine the evidence. If he did, he would discover no such uniformity, but in fact considerable affirmation in the community for the work Access Ministries is engaging in, in our schools.
That many schools provide religious education and have a majority of students taking up the classes is clear evidence of the community wanting this service and of schools having confidence in the program.
Murray Campbell, Mentone
Make friends with China? We must
IN ''CHINA to lead world economy'' (The Age, 25/4), the issue is the possibility of military action supporting the United States against China. Why is this an issue?
Yes, we have formal treaties with the United States, but Australia as a nation must move forward and seek greater strategic ties with east Asian nations.
If Australia is to survive in a future where one of our closest neighbours is the world's leading economy, surely it would be wise to work closely with it to the benefit of all.
Adam Rundell, McKinnon
Timing or content?
FORMER army man, turned fundamentalist Christian, Jim Wallace regrets his anti-gay and anti-Muslim post to Twitter, lamenting that it was ill-timed because it was posted on Anzac Day (''Christian leader sorry for Anzac tweets'', theage.com.au, 25/4).
But is it really an apology? Did he apologise for the content? No, only the timing.
Maybe he thinks such views are acceptable on every other day. If so, he's not fit to characterise himself as either a Christian or a leader.
Rod Swift, West Footscray
Healing the wounds
WE'RE pleased that there is a new approach to treating badly wounded soldiers and wish the two soldiers all the best for their future health (''After the blast'', Insight, 23/4).
The great pity is that soldiers severely injured in non-war locations have to fight for better treatment in what is still an adversarial atmosphere. Our son was blinded and head-injured as the result of a Northern Territory training accident; his has been a constant battle since then - and it continues.
Bill and Alva Anderson, East Keilor
Growth and gains
THERE are times when growth in human numbers is convenient and necessary to build up an economy of scale, to create a feasible and coherent society and justify infrastructure investments. However, over-growth is akin to obesity, or cancer, that ''grows on you''. Growth over an optimum size means massive costs to re-engineer our city, outstripping funding and natural resources.
What would a bigger Melbourne (Comment, 23/4) achieve that can't already be achieved? What's to be gained? It's all about those in power making more wealth from property development, and mega-stores growing and maintaining a bigger customer base. It's not for the benefit of us, the average people, but the elite who will be shielded from the negative impacts due to their wealth.
Vivienne Ortega, Heidelberg Heights
Sweeten the deal for the good of farmers
THE use of child labour on cocoa farms in West Africa has been highlighted (Martin Thomas, Comment, 21/4). A project supported by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, in association with the Mars company, is promoting and assessing cocoa certification in Indonesia, the world's third-largest producer of cocoa.
Since 2001, the ACIAR Cocoa Projects have shown that cocoa can be grown sustainably with simple improvements in management. However, these require much extra labour, which farmers cannot afford.
Basically, farmers do not receive enough for their cocoa (about 15¢ from a $4 chocolate) to enable them to produce it sustainably. This applies also to African cocoa, for most of the tropical commodities we consume, and, in truth, most of the food we consume.
Family farmers the world over are not rewarded adequately for their investment, labour and skill in growing food, leading to shortcuts, lack of sustainability, rural decline, and the sort of exploitative practices seen on West African cocoa farms.
Philip John Keane, La Trobe University, Bundoora
Shortcuts in training don't really exist
LAST Friday, a letter appeared in our local newspaper from Police and Emergency Services Minister Peter Ryan promoting his new policy of assigning protective services officers to patrol our regional railway station. He casually made the ridiculous claim that ''PSOs learn how to deal with mentally ill or drug or alcohol affected people'' within the eight weeks of training they receive at Glen Waverley Police Academy.
To become a registered psychiatric nurse, I studied for three years at tertiary level to ''learn how to deal with'' people suffering mental illness, many of whom suffer significant additional health problems associated with concurrent substance abuse, the side effects of their legally prescribed medications and the resultant physical ravages that the cognitive and behavioural disturbances of major mental illness can wreak upon the human body.
After my three years of study I came out as a beginner - a graduate nurse. I have been expected to continually maintain and improve my clinical competence ever since.
Michelle Goldsmith, Eaglehawk
Get the dogs out
PUBLIC Transport Minister Terry Mulder should let sleeping dogs lie and leave the ban on pets on V/Line services in place. I do not relish sharing my journey with someone's pooch or moggie, with the exception of guide dogs, which are well trained.
Mulder should get himself a good adviser before he makes a serious mistake. Using public transport as his usual transport mode would help him too.
Malcolm Simister, Glen Iris
No warm glow
THE Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation has revealed that radiation from the Fukushima disaster has spread all the way to Australia.
Thankfully, only trace amounts of radiation have been detected here but the growing plume is a timely reminder that ''a nuclear accident anywhere is a nuclear accident everywhere''.
Australians should reflect on our own culpability. The plume spreading from Fukushima had its origin in uranium mined here. Mirarr senior traditional owner Yvonne Margarula said she was deeply saddened that uranium from her land at Ranger in the Northern Territory has been exported to Japanese nuclear power companies, including TEPCO, operator of the stricken Fukushima plant (''Radioactive water threatens Kakadu'', The Saturday Age, 16/4).
It's time to reflect on Australia's uranium industry. It contributes a paltry 0.3 per cent to Australia's export revenue - and most of that money never comes anywhere near Australia. The uranium industry accounts for just 0.03 per cent of Australian jobs. Clearly it is an industry we can do without.
Jim Green, Friends of the Earth, Melbourne
Go bananas in north
I AM sure Larissa Dubecki (''An open letter to my toddler'', Comment, 23/4) is a fabulous mum. But she is clearly leading a sheltered life on the ''other'' side of town.
The price of a banana varies according to location as well. At the weekend, I bought some excellent bananas for $7.99 a kilogram, about half the price she quoted. I also bought almost anything else I needed, in the most entrancing carnival of a market at Preston, staffed and populated by every immigrant nuance the north can offer. But you might have to wait for a parking spot.
Ken Taylor, Brunswick West
Missing in action
DURING Melbourne's Anzac Day dawn gathering, there seemed to be a parallel service going on somewhere over to the east. There were certainly some faint and echoing sounds of a public address system coming from that direction, with the occasional intelligible word.
Those of us outside the Shrine felt a bit left out of it.
Bill James, Bayswater
Take a deep breath
CITY folk, you visit the countryside because of the lovely relaxed atmosphere. Why bring your stress baggage and angry outlook with you? No, we didn't close the street just to annoy you; it was Anzac Day and we do it every year for the parade. No, we don't always have to wait for service in every shop; only on public holidays when we are inundated with tourists.
Yes, we do get booked for parking in no-standing zones; we are not just picking on the visitors. Yes, we do like to use our parks and gardens; they are not just for your personal use. Yelling at people walking their dog isn't good for stress release, although maybe it works for you.
Next time, as you double-lock the front door of your city abode, could you hang your angst coat on the hook before you leave? Then you might actually enjoy your visit. Thanks.
William Campbell, Daylesford
…AND ANOTHER THING
GOOD on ya, Wayne Swan, lock up those protesting detainees. That oughta show them and those spineless Greens who's in charge around here.
Michelle Goldsmith, Eaglehawk
Politics
WHAT needs to happen now with the alleged asylum seekers is they should be put on a plane and sent back to where they came from. The trouble is, there isn't any politician in this country with the guts to do it.
John Bain, Bunbury, WA
MARK Arbib, you are sadly mistaken (''Arbib backs the Abbott model'', The Age, 25/4). The opposition's job is not just to oppose for the sake of opposing. It is to take on responsibilities as the alternative government.
Pat Rivett, Ferntree Gully
THE Premier, Ted Baillieu, is a good, honest man. The problem is, what is Tentative Ted actually doing?
Barry Revill, Moorabbin
STEAMING ahead with under-trained armed guards on train stations, the Baillieu government seems oblivious to a potential political rail disaster. It will be triggered by the first shot resulting in unlawful injury or death.
Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills
Elsewhere
I AM bemused and bewildered. Shopping all day on Easter Sunday in Victoria. No shopping until 1pm on Anzac Day. In church versus state, the state has won convincingly.
Brian Morley, Nunawading
BEFORE her execution in World War I, British nursing sister Edith Cavell stated: ''Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness for anyone.'' Wise words then and now.
Carole Mules, Greenslopes, Qld
MEMO, all the big stores. Easter's over - time to get out The Holly and the Ivy.
Myra Fisher, Brighton East
ONCE again the Pope shows the irrelevance of religion in the modern, thinking world.
David Jones, Parkville
IN THE interests of balance, I want a pacifist wrap around the next Anzac Day edition of The Age, and an atheist wrap next Easter.
Rod Oaten, North Carlton
DAVID Brooks's excellent examination of Donald Trump (Comment, 25/4) brought to mind our own gold-plated blowhard, pokies advocate Jeff Kennett, also chairman of beyondblue.
Tim Nolan, Brighton