No supernatural force
Brian Tamaki supports Israel Folau´s "who is going to hell" (April 16), damning, in turn all those who think God worship is wasted human endeavour (atheists). They find the idea of anyone being "free from religion" offensive.
They variously claim a special relationship with the why and how of life.
Our Whanganui Chronicle gives daily space to this belief with its "Thought for today". Surely you will allow space for responses?
Example: There is no evidence that our world is worked by appealing to supernatural forces, by following superstitious rituals, by incantations or prayers.
It is evident that the world is not all about you and I, or any particular life form — so you cannot claim a special relationship with it.
If you think you have, know this belief in the supernatural can only exist in your head, no matter how many others may say they share your delusion.
Because it is evident that the natural world is all inclusive, and it has one simple "commandment" for all its biological elements (life and its organisation): adapt or die.
H. NORTON
Kaitoke
Correction
I had a number of people question my statement "After the initial tax briefing a month ago, Newshub's Tova O'Brien chased Winston Peters down the hall of Parliament yelling at him repeatedly that "Capital Gains Tax doesn't work anywhere!"
This is the link: https://www.facebook.com/nzherald.co.nz/videos/361295641134021/.
I did listen to it several times the first time around, but I now hear that Tova O'Brien is quoting Peters on his "comments in the past" where he said that "It would not work here and it would not work anywhere". She asked him once, not repeatedly. She was not editorialising her own opinion as I implied, nor did she chase him down the hall (It's the camera lens that "follows him").
My apologies. Tova O'Brien was simply doing her job. Peters avoided the question.
Oh, and the other person who answered Scown on his subject of how "money works" did a fantastic job, so there is no reason to publish mine.
BRIT BUNKLEY
Whanganui
Māori economy barriers
The Māori asset base has grown past $40 billion, but there is a warning of barriers to continued rapid growth.
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment figures estimate Māori assets are worth $42.6 billion — a 15.4 per cent increase from 2010.
These assets are held in Māori trusts, incorporations and other entities, including $6.6 billion owned by self-employed Māori, and are growing faster than the economy as a whole. And the value of Māori enterprises is tipped to grow as the final Treaty of Waitangi settlements are made.
But Massey University School of Management senior lecturer Jason Mika says too little is known about the Māori economy — and that will be costly to New Zealand in terms of lost employment opportunities and lasting sustainability.
The Welfare Working Group identified that our indigenous people, although 15 per cent of the population, were disproportionately represented in all adverse statistics from prison inmates to those receiving some form of welfare, and was asked to make practical recommendations on how to reduce long-term welfare dependency for people of working age in order to achieve better social and economic outcomes for people on welfare, their families and the wider community.
What is the malaise that affects them? What is being done about it?
PAUL EVANS-MCLEOD
Te Rapa, Hamilton
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