Prayer needs to be inclusive

The Christians who oppose the idea of removing the name of Jesus from the Parliamentary Prayer are mistaken if they think the proposal is an attack on the person of Jesus Christ.

Two or three recent popes organised meetings of leaders of the great religions to pray for world peace and in particular for the removal of hostility between the religions. The popes were acting on the principle that it is the duty of Christians to assume the good faith of those in other religions, while recognising their beliefs may differ radically from their own.

The popes would have defeated the whole purpose of the exercise, if they had insisted their joint prayer must include the name of Jesus.

The New Zealand Parliament no longer has a majority of Christian MPs, so it is high time the popes’ principle of respecting the genuinely held beliefs of others be put into practice. An essential step in this must entail a rewording of the Parliamentary Prayer to include those with differing beliefs.

Patrick Cronin (life-long Catholic), Nelson

Jane Bowron, commenting on the recent march for the reintroduction of the name of Jesus into the Parliamentary Prayer (Nov 5), mentions replacing the prayer with a poem by James K Baxter, a man of Christian faith who I suspect would be dismayed by the removal of the name of Jesus from the prayer.

The same day there was a 6.2 quake not far from Jerusalem on the Whanganui River, where Baxter set up a spiritual commune. Interesting indeed. Stan Najbert, Porirua

Inherently racist

Joel Maxwell (Playing with the notion Pa¯ keha¯ is a racist word, Nov 5) may well claim the word Pa¯ keha¯ is not an insult, but the problem with the term is that it refers to everyone who is not Ma¯ ori, no matter what race or ethnicity.

Being Ma¯ ori means being tangata whenua and therefore holding a special status that comes with ethnic-based rights and a superior recognition of culture and beliefs.

The term Pa¯ keha¯ may not in itself be derogatory, but it does by definition carry a cultural inferiority. For these reasons it is an inherently racist term.

I am of European heritage, of Welsh and Scottish descent. I don’t describe myself as Welsh or Scottish, and nor as a

Pa¯ keha¯ , but rather as a New Zealander or a Kiwi, because these are inclusive terms. They include everybody who considers New Zealand home, be they of European, Asian, African or American extraction, and are also inclusive of Ma¯ ori.

We need to be a country where we celebrate our differences, where our diversity enriches us, where ethnicity matters but does not bestow privilege, where all citizens are united equally under the law. If we continue down the path of separatism we will fail as country.

Richard Prince, Tauranga

Bureaucracy mad

I accompanied my 97-year-old mother to an appointment at Wellington Hospital last week. I had pre-booked her to then travel on the district health board shuttle to Kenepuru as I was returning to work.

So I asked the people at the hospital reception/help desk to please assist my mother on to the shuttle when it arrived, as she is sometimes is a little unsteady, especially if there is a strong wind is blowing.

They said no. Because of health and safety requirements, they are not allowed to help.

How can it be safer to allow a 97-year-old to walk and board the hospital shuttle unaccompanied than to let her take your arm. I am staggered, shocked and beyond disappointed. Bureaucracy gone mad.

Dawn Hall, Whitby

Antarctic airbase

Re Beijing prepares to build airbase at South Pole (Oct 31), as Americans have supported the Amundsen-Scott Station at the South Pole for 60 years, some of us found this news startling.

However, a quick check on the internet revealed a Daily Mail news feature reporting that the new airbase is to be at the Chinese Zhongshan Station on the Antarctic coast 2300km from the South Pole.

The article also asserted without foundation that ‘‘the Antarctic . . . is rich in natural resources such as gold, platinum and coal’’.

‘‘Natural resources’’ are defined as ‘‘materials or substances occurring in nature which can be exploited for economic gain’’. Exploitation of mineral resources is prohibited by the Antarctic Environmental Protocol (Article 7) adopted by Antarctic Treaty nations in 1991.

Peter Barrett, Emeritus Professor of Geology, Antarctic Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington