Madam, - Rocco Buttiglione has caused trouble for daring to say that homosexual behaviour is a sin but not a crime. This is unacceptable hypocrisy to many, such as your correspondent Paul Bowler who ends his letter (Oct 28th), "To say something is wrong but not a crime does nothing but nurture the bile that can easily erupt into violence, both physical and legal".
Where does this leave adultery, the deliberate breaking of a central marital vow, which is widely acknowledged to be wrong but not a crime? Where are Mr Bowler's bile and violence, both physical and legal? The closest we've seen is the EU's bile that erupted when Turkey recently tried to eliminate the dichotomy by criminalising adultery.
Western freedom and democracy, unlike for example Islam, are all about distinguishing human laws from religious convictions, precisely what Signor Buttiglione proposed to do over homosexuality. - Yours, etc.,
TONY ALLWRIGHT, Killiney, Co Dublin.
Madam, - In her defence of Mr. Buttiglione, Lucinda Creighton states, "So long as Mr Buttiglione's moral beliefs do not lead to intolerance or discrimination in his political role, there is no problem" (Letters, Oct 27th).
However, in his interview for the job, Mr Buttiglione clearly stated that if any particular EU programme was in conflict with his personal religious beliefs, he would fight against that programme.
In the interests of the continuing and welcome separation of church and state within the EU, this man should be rejected. - Yours, etc.,
ANTHONY SHERIDAN, Carraig Eoin, Cobh, Co Cork.
Madam, - Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Féin MEP and self-styled peace activist, in a recent radio interview indicated that if it came to a vote she would reject Mr Rocco Buttiglione for the justice portfolio in the European Commission because of his rather pathetic remarks on immigrants, homosexuals, married women and single mothers.
I feel she made a very strong argument in support of her view that if one is to be responsible for justice and human rights, there can be no trace of ambivalence in one's track record on fundamental human rights.
I am beginning to suspect that Mary Lou may in fact be an undercover human rights activist who has successfully infiltrated the Sinn Féin organisation.
She is probably just about to launch a campaign to repatriate people who were banished from this country by the IRA and to begin a fight for the rights of the "disappeared" and their families.
She will almost certainly seek to put in place within the Sinn Féin organisation a process, similar to the European Commission's process, whereby anyone with a poor track record in upholding the fundamental human rights of the individual, irrespective of class, creed, colour, nationality or sexual orientation will be deemed unsuitable for political office.
This process will apply to all former members of the IRA and will possibly leave only Mary Lou and Gerry Adams, as Gerry never joined the IRA!
I am confident that when it is explained to Mr Buttiglione as to how passionate our Mary Lou is on human rights and justice for all, that he will have little difficulty understanding why she could not accept him as prospective European Justice Commissioner.
It wasn't because he buried people in the dead of night or banished people from their country or carried out punishment beatings, as he had done none of these, it was because he made remarks which were hurtful, insensitive and unacceptable to many, many people and that his saying sorry afterwards is just not good enough. - Yours, etc.,
Fr DECLAN MORIARTY PP, The Parish of Rowlagh and Quarryvale, Clondalkin, Dublin 22.
Madam, - I'm delighted with this controversy because it unwittingly brings into focus one of the EU's fundamental faults i.e. failure to foster an interest in EU affairs amongst its citizens.
This has constantly been acknowledged by the EU as one of its major objectives but, to date, nothing obvious has been done to rectify this.
As one of its ignorant citizens, though open-minded and willing to learn, I believe that there is a huge range of opinions, policies, ideologies and beliefs in the EU. Regarding this particular affair, having read your Religious Affairs Correspondent's article in Wednesday's Irish Times, I suspect that Mr Buttiglione would be in the far right of that range.
However, if only to give the lie to the belief that The Irish Times is overly liberal and overly secular in its columns, maybe your Religious Affairs Correspondent might now give your readers some of the personal opinions, beliefs and policies of some of those on the extreme left of the same range in the EU.
Yes, I can see how some of Mr Buttiglione's personal religious beliefs could cause a clash with his public duty for the EU, had he been endorsed but, even more so, I suspect, would the beliefs held by many of those in the far left of the EU, had any of them been in the same position. - Yours, etc.,
SEAMUS Ó MEAGAIR, Dublin Road, Mullingar, Co Westmeath.
A chara - It was a great pity to see Simon Coveney and Brian Crowley trot out the old "Catholic persecution" excuse in their attempt to defend Commissioner-designate Buttiglione, something the older and wiser Chris Patten cautioned against in your paper (Oct 27th).
That the Italian Commissioner has some ultra-conservative, homophobic and anti-feminist opinions was not the issue.
Rather it was a combination of the sensitivity of the Commission post to which he had been nominated, along with his past record of attempting to legislate for such personal convictions, which made the chance that he might do so again in the future a risk too great to take.
I'm not sure what the Bible's views on farmers are, but had he been a candidate for Agriculture, I doubt there would have been an issue.
Dáil-watchers back home might take most interest, however, in the fact that, including the Presidency, this is the second occasion in a matter of weeks when Ireland's two conservative parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, have joined forces and voted together for one nominee, leaving the Labour Party stranded on the other side of the aisle. A sign of things to come, perhaps? - Is mise, le meas,
DAVID CARROLL, Castle Gate, Dublin 2.
Madam, - Your Religious Affairs correspondent, Patsy McGarry, wrote of Mr Buttiglione (October 27th): "His past conduct does not bode well - as a public man he has consistently obeyed his church authorities."
I think this is an awful comment. We have reached a sorry pass if a person is punished for being true to himself. - Yours, etc.,
Fr PAT GRIFFIN, Waterville, Co Kerry.
A chara, - Fine Gael Cllr Lucinda Creighton's remarks (October 27th) on the Holocaust display a profound historical ignorance concerning the nature of the Nazi genocide in Europe.
Contrary to what she states, the victims of the Holocaust were not "murdered only as punishment for practising their chosen religion".
The Nazis did not view Judaism as a religion but rather as an anti-race in a mortal struggle with the Aryan race.
This insanity dictated that a person's Jewishness stemmed from his biological roots, and could not be altered by a change in religion, hence the rejection by the Nazis of all persons of Jewish origin, including those not of the Jewish faith, such as the progeny of mixed marriages.
The Nazis murdered observant, secular and atheist Jews as well as Jewish converts to other religions.
To abuse their memory to make a political point, as Cllr Creighton does, is nothing short of despicable. - Is mise, srl,
DAMIAN Mac CON ULADH Periandrou, Athens, Greece.