I refer to the letter by Mark Pinkstone headlined 'Priests cannot express 'private views' ' (Sunday Morning Post, April 7).
Mr Pinkstone was objecting to the stand some Catholic priests are taking regarding right-of-abode seekers. He is wrong to assert that religion and politics do not mix. In Christianity, religion is about love while politics is supposed to be about the promotion of justice and peace. In the Old Testament, the prophet Micah asks believers to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly. In modern times, nearer home, Cardinal Jaime Sin of Manila once wrote, 'Justice without mercy is tyranny, mercy without justice is weakness. Justice without love is pure socialism, love without justice is pure baloney.'
It is clear when we look at the exemplary lives of some Christians that politics and religions do mix.
As to whether bishops and priests, or indeed civil servants, should express private views, the 19th-century English cleric John Henry Newman once said, during an after-dinner speech, while he would drink a toast to the Pope, he would drink to his conscience first.
Those who do not preach what they believe and practise what they preach give religion a bad name.
ERIC S P NG