Letters to the editor, The Daily Advertiser, July 9, 2022

He rightly points to census data indicating that religious identification has fallen to an all-time low.

However, 44 per cent is still a considerable proportion of people, and notably, while 'religion' may be on the slide, spirituality remains significant - a 2021 Community Survey revealed 55 per cent believe in God/a higher power and 60 per cent pray/meditate.

Rather than interacting with the best version of religious claims, Hull compares Christian leaders with executives of the tobacco industry and yet research indicates that participation in religious communities is associated with numerous aspects of human flourishing.

I appreciate aspects of Hull's criticism of institutionalised Christianity - there is much in the church's history that is shameful, and it is rightly criticised where it has participated in such evil.

But any level-headed criticism would also acknowledge the remarkable impact for good - indeed, it has given Western society the best of its values.

To this day in Australia, the overwhelming majority of charitable organisations can trace their origins to a Christian worldview.

It is intellectually dishonest to not recognise that the good that Christians have done really is because of their faith, not "despite it" as Hull claims.

Despite this, I find myself in agreement with Hull's title: "losing faith in the church [is] a very good thing". Why? Because our trust was never supposed to be in an institution but in a person: Jesus of Nazareth.

Even if many consider God to be a non-existent human construct, no historian would regard Jesus in this way. It is the person of Jesus who has inspired so many in the history of the world.

Yes, religious identity in Australia may be at an all-time low, but on a global scale, Christianity's annual growth rate of 1.17 per cent is more than five times that of 'atheism' (0.18 per cent).

As the world's largest religion, there must be something quite authentic about Jesus to provoke such widespread interest in him.

Perhaps it was his kindness? Or his teaching and miracles which are acknowledged even in non-Christian sources?

Perhaps it was the way in which Jesus approached his death as being for us, and how his first followers chose to die for the claim that he rose from the dead?

Whatever people find attractive about Jesus, Hull may be surprised to discover that Jesus would share his pessimism about religious institutions.

I think Jesus would agree that having faith in the church is a bad thing -but he would invite Hull, as he does all of us, to trust in him, the experience of which, people throughout history have discovered to be a very good thing.

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The cartoon about Bernard Collaery cleverly drawn by Mr Pope in your July 8 edition was a humorous reminder of a political matter.

Sadly though, it was also a reminder of what a criminal country we are in Australia when such a matter could occupy the lives of so many innocent and worthy people for years following a criminal act against one of the poorest countries in the world, all for the sake of future oil revenues and political survival.

An insidious act by political operators who should all should be prosecuted for their crime.

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