Whether by design or not, by signing his comments on "Illegal boat people"as Monsignor (Your View, January 21), Brian Rayner appears to be attempting to give a clearly political issue a religious credibility or authority the comments simply do not deserve.
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I would be surprised if any official position from the Christian church in Australia (Catholic or not) would support his views.
"Boat people", as they are so generously described by Father Rayner, are in fact asylum-seekers who have a right by international law and convention (agreed to by Australia) to seek asylum as refugees.
No matter how often the Immigration Minister attempts to dehumanise these desperate people as "illegal" will not change the fact that whether they are or are not legitimate refugees can only be established after a process.
Father Rayner's comments that declare Australia to be one of the world's "generous and caring countries" are difficult to sustain when it comes to asylum-seekers given that we are ranked 69th in the world per capita refugee intake, 49th in absolute intake of refugees and, most telling, we rank a disheartening 91st in the list of refugee-taking countries relative to national wealth.
Maybe Father Rayner's refusal to allow the Greens' election poster to be displayed says the most about his political leanings.
Ron Baker, Carlton
See related letter to the editor: http://www.theleader.com.au/story/2034005/illegal-boat-people/
