Bishop's views outdated and hypocritical I was disappointed and angry to read Bishop Devine's comments about homosexuality (Fury at bishop's gay persecution' claim, March 13). His views are outdated and fail to uphold some of the basic tenets of Christianity, namely, to treat others as you would be treated yourself and to love one another. His comments also display some of the worst aspects of hypocrisy. The bishop is a leader of a faith that has itself had to lobby and campaign to promote the right for its members to be treated equally. As a result, the Catholic Church now holds a strong political and social position. It ill befits the bishop to criticise others for exercising their own right to equal treatment.

I agree with Calum Irving of Stonewall that the bishop's language is intemperate. It displays the kind of attitude that, rather than promoting greater respect between people of different opinions and faiths, is disruptive and divisive. Although I don't agree with them, I respect Bishop Devine's right to his views about homosexuality or on anything else. However, it is irresponsible to use his public position to promote debate on the basis of destructive prejudice and hyperbole.

The idea of a conspiracy against Christianity is absurd and, given the bishop's attitudes about not "tolerating" homosexuality, he would be better occupied examining why it is that so many people are choosing to live a secular life. His suggestion that secularism is corrupt alienates a huge part of the Scottish population who choose not to display their personal beliefs and lifestyle through public worship.
Debbie Wilkie,
Edinburgh.

It is not clear what explanation Bishop Devine can advance for his utterances and his culpable ignorance on the fate of gay men and women under the Nazis. There is simply no argument that gay people, as a group, and by reason only of their membership of that group, were identified for extermination - as Hitler made clear as early as 1940. They shared that fate with trades unionists, socialists, communists, gipsies, Jehovah's Witnesses and others, not least the first and main victims of the Shoah: the Jewish people. The bishop might for a moment ponder that the feature of people being marked out for death just because of who they were, not what they did, also sent millions of Polish Catholic clergy, religious and lay people to the same fate. Fortunately, no episcopal imprimatur is required for attendance at Holocaust Memorial Day events and we are not reliant on Bishop Devine for a pecking order amid the dead. But he might care to consider the suitability of any future attendance by him.

Hopefully, the bishop's response to a query on what parents of Catholic children should do on finding their child was gay was somewhat more compassionate than your report suggests. He might only manage a "measure of compassion" but in so doing he would ignore the teaching of our church that gay men and women should be treated "with respect, compassion and sensitivity". Certainly, the tradition of the church and a body of scripture, though not one word of Our Lord, condemn homosexual practices as "intrinsically disordered". The condemnation, take note, is of sexual practices, not of some "vast conspiracy" of homosexuals whom even the church recognises do not "choose" to be gay.

Our bishops no longer harangue us on the evils of contraception - not least as our parents simply ignored them en masse and most Catholics today affirm the right of parents to plan their families as a matter of personal moral judgment. The late, great Pope John Paul II, despite having less cause for self-condemnation than most, felt bound to kneel in silence and repentance at the gates of the Hell known as Auschwitz. Bishop Devine might just feel a period of silence and repentance calling him this Lenten time.
Brian Fitzpatrick,
Dalziel Drive, Glasgow.

I read with alarm the reported comments of Bishop Devine on the "giant conspiracy" advancing the cause of secularism - especially with regard to gay people and gay groups. I am sure the bishop is a good man, but his opinions are off-the-wall. Has he any idea how homosexual people suffer from bullying, intimidation, rejection? Is he aware that the group most at risk of suicide are gay teenage men? Does he care? Does he know the damage he does to ordinary gay Catholics (and others) who are trying to live their lives in faith and according to conscience? Happily, there are many other leaders in the church who take a more informed, compassionate approach. Bishop Devine finished his lecture saying: "Like Mel Gibson, who said, I'm going to pick a fight', so am I." I will happily, in a spirit of Christian charity, engage with Bishop Devine on his opinions, and have written to him to say so.
Fr Ed Hone,
High Street, Edinburgh.

As a Catholic, I was outraged by Bishop Devine's comments on Tuesday evening. Isn't it ironic that he chose to attack and marginalise the gay community in a lecture where he was also discussing the damaging effects of sectarianism? If sectarianism teaches us anything it is that setting groups against each other leads to hatred and division. He is out of step with mainstream opinion, even among the Catholic community in Scotland.

His statements regarding Holocaust memorials also showed a serious lack of understanding about what modern Holocaust remembrance is about. Even the Holocaust Memorial Trust is clear that the point of remembrance is to not just commemorate the Jewish Holocaust, but all forms of mass killing, whether on the grounds of gender, race or sexuality.

As a former pupil of St Aloysius' College in Glasgow - where the lecture took place - I also hope that it chooses to distance itself from his comments. Bishop Devine's statements represent an extreme of Catholic opinion and not the kind of sentiment I remember from a school that taught me to challenge prejudice and work for the good of others. His comments only promote marginalising swathes of our population and only work towards dividing our communities.
Martin McCluskey,
Bonn Square, Oxford.

Your report on Bishop Devine's grossly offensive speech about the gay activist community includes a comment from a Catholic Church spokesman who says the bishop was "accusing the gays of today of trying to adopt the mantle of victimhood of those who were persecuted by the Nazis". Gay people do not want to be seen as victims. They want the same dignity, respect and human rights that we all expect and deserve. That does not diminish or remove their right to remember those who died at the hands of the Nazis, especially as a significant number of those who were murdered in concentration camps were there because of the Nazi regime's prejudice about their sexuality.

Such prejudice should be consigned to history, but Bishop Devine seems determined to breathe new life into a campaign which has no place in modern Scotland. I question why he feels the need to attack others in defence of what is supposed to be a loving credo.
Jenny Kemp,
Lochend Road,
Edinburgh.

Spending years dealing with the "Catholic guilt" over my homosexuality, and yet working out in integrity how to reconcile, embrace and fully live out both my faith and sexuality, I find it most upsetting that senior figures in my church resort to prejudiced attacks on those of us who are doing no wrong but to live according to who we are.

What His Grace fails to recognise is that homosexuals were, indeed, persecuted during the Holocaust, with between 5000 and 15,000 gay men condemned to Nazi concentration camps as part of an "anti-social group". About 60% of these died in the camps, and many who survived were not recognised as Holocaust victims and were reimprisoned by the restored regimes in post-war Europe.

Bishop Devine fails to recognise that this is about the basic human right to live according to the diversity of sexualities with which God made us as sexual beings. Our sexuality is part of our innate human dignity, and to express it in love is to fulfil our potential in Christ. I hope the bishop reflects on his comments, apologises for the hurt and distress they have caused and that solidarity is achieved from all sections of our society in securing justice and respect for all.
Gareth Gould,
Harlesden, London.

As parents of a gay son and as volunteers with an organisation that helps parents when their children come out as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, we want to say how sad we were to read the comments made by Bishop Devine against gay people.

We have the greatest admiration for those of our gay friends who are devout Christians in spite of the many hurtful things they have had to cope with from churches over the years. They have a faith we envy, and they are often criticised for having that faith, even by other gay people. We receive loving support from individual members of the Catholic Church and their courage and commitment is inspirational.

Twenty years ago we walked around Dachau with our gay son and his partner; that is where we first realised what the pink triangle meant, and nothing could bring home more clearly what prejudice can lead to. More recently we were proud to represent parents of gay children at the Holocaust Memorial Service at the Usher Hall. Being gay is not a choice, and we are glad to be associated with the community. Those of us in Parents Enquiry Scotland love and value our gay children - they don't threaten family or Christian values - they are part of them.
Anne and Joe Patrizio,
Edinburgh.