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1. Thank you, Frank, very much for your fine reflection and intervention on the politics of refugees and asylum seekers. At our peril we would forget that Moses, Jesus and Mohammed were all refugees!

   Posted By: David Timbs ALBION. Vic

2. I am glad some of these points are being raised. A difference between the 747 passenger,o r more importantly the refugee who is selected based on need alone, not the propensity to cross oceans in organised migration, is the cost, financial, to process these arrivals.
   This,a t the moment, is reputed to be of the order of $85000, per head. Apart from any suffering and loss of life caused by this migration, it all ends in a zero sum game where parliament accepts 12000 or so refugees anyway.
   We need to advocate a needs based refugee scheme, with a priority for those countries in which we have waged war or intervened with police actions.
   Only then may the very poor, stuck in African, Asian and Middle Eastern camps,with no money or hope, have any chance of getting out.

   Posted By: Lewis P Buckingham Kellyville NSW

3. David Timbs: It seems to me more perilous to lump Moses, Mohammed and Jesus into the one reductive basket and simplify their religious significance to a merely secular category.
   Among other things, it does no justice to Judaic and Islamic belief, let alone Christology as held by the Church, as distinct from Liberation Theology founded on neo-Marxian principles.

   Posted By: John Kelly Adelaide SA

4. John Kelly: Moses, Jesus and Mohammed were refugees regardless of what you have to say about reducing their religious significance to a merely secular category.
   No religious tradition is worth its salt unless it engages with and brings real change within secular society.
   In regard to your broad brush dismissal of Liberation Theology being founded on neo-Marxist principles, I suggest the 'straw man' has reappeared.
   At the very least, you might read Luke 4: 18-19. Here Jesus proclaimed in public the agenda of his Gospel mission. You might also read the works of Fr Gustavo Gutierrez OP in which he expressly states that the power of the Christian message to society comes not out of the barrel of a gun but from the teaching of Jesus Christ.
   You might also recall thetelling apologia of the late Archbishop Helder Camara: When I give bread to the hungry they call me a saint; when I ask 'why the hungry have no bread?', they call me a Communist.
   Don't forget Archbishop Oscar Romero either. He was shot dead while celebrating the Eucharist for preaching such a dangerous Gospel. These were not 'paper tigers' or traffickers of religious opiates! Look at the price they paid for their Gospel integrty.

   Posted By: David Timbs ALBION. Vic.

5. David Timbs: I am familiar with the three you figures you mention, but distinguish between their understanding of and commitment to Liberation Theology as such. The two Archbishops were not Liberation Theologians; they did not subscribe to the neo-Marxist ideology which underpins it. I refer you the extended discussion between MJ and me several months ago on this topic, and to the Featured website posted by CathNews on this subject.
   I refer you, more significantly, to the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's instruction on the same.
   

   Posted By: John Kelly Adelaide SA

6. John Kelly: Literary helps. I did not say that the two Archbishops mentioned were proponents of Liberation Theology.
   They were, however, fearless preachers of the Kingdom of God and its ethic of Justice for all. Both suffered greatly for their courageous solidarity with God's People.
   It is clear to me that your knowledge of Liberation Theology is not sound. Both Christians and Marxists saw exactly the same social challenges; the latter group advocated a solution of counter bloodshed and violence whilst the former proclaimed the Gospel as the only authentic path to Justice. Its tactics were not bullets but name and shame.
   I bet Cd Ratzinger was cheering for Solidarity in Poland when there were vigorous protests there.
   As for the rest of your references, they are yours to dine out on. My response is to you.

   Posted By: David Timbs ALBION. Vic

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