George Brandis manages to blame "illiberal" responses to right-wing populism in the US on "the left" ("Brandis calls for defence of liberalism", July 7). He says ideas have been "inverted" by "the left" because of its "intolerance" of diversity. As though, somehow, Donald Trump's right-wing extremism is the fault of "the left". And his portrayal of this so-called "inversion" as "diseased" is really just a reflection of his own hypocritical, right-wing, reactionary intolerance. - Brenton White, Mosman Logic is not a dominant characteristic of the modern intellectual left. An example is their argument that an inclusive group welcoming all can exclude an individual for being different and still remain inclusive. Before that, they condemned Brandis for arguing for the right to be a bigot. Yet only a bigot can deny a person the right to be a bigot. This illogicality on bigotry is perpetuated today by the media choosing to describe Brandis' defence of the right to be a bigot as "infamous". It is sad really. In days past the intellectual left was more logical. They then argued there can be no democracy if some political parties are banned. Those were the days when the leftist Communist Party was threatened by some illogical politicians on the right. Thankfully the logical heads prevailed. As Brandis and other supporters of liberalism say, ideas are best left to rise or fall on their merits in a competitive marketplace of ideas. - Ross Drynan, Lindfield Folau: the grudge match The Australian Rugby Union v Folau legal contest is being billed by some as a state of origin colosseum grudge match ("Backlash warned if religion threatened", July 7). This important legal case, which speaks to the practice of our freedoms, should not be reduced to one religion's bid for top billing, as the erstwhile senator clearly has in mind.

The question should be asked whether the practice of any religion is under threat in this case. Folau published on a social media platform in order to spread his own opinion fashioned from Bible fragments. Would his resulting loss of employment threaten his or others' freedom to practise their religion, or just a nebulous "right" to cherry pick religious texts to publish on Facebook or other social media? That distinction is vital in the current climate examining social media publishing of hate speech. Attempting to muddy the waters by dragging this into the political arena and a question of vote buying at the next election is the stuff of circus. - Christopher Hill, Kensington There is obviously considerable lobbying of MPs attempting to seek rights for religious freedom. It needs to be recognised that the majority of this lobbying is not on behalf of the free-thinking Christians' interpretation of scripture, but the minority of fundamental literalists (like Sydney Anglicans) who claim they have the only truth and have adopted attitudes that conflict with the teaching and examples of Jesus. While I support their right to enjoy their misguided beliefs, they do not have the right to use those beliefs to intimidate or prejudice the freedom of others; especially related to LGBTQI +, sexual freedom, racial and alternative religion issues. - Alan Little, Sylvania May I request that your humble paper refrain from blaspheming the name of Jesus Christ in your articles/ jokes (Fitz on Sunday, July 7)? It is the most revered name in Christianity and you owe it to your Christian readers to be respectful of sentiments; especially in this day and age when Christianity is fair game. - Joshua Carr, Blacktown

Google, join the grown-ups This case is arguably rightly based on the reasonable notion that the dominance of Google (and Facebook) over the flow of information and news needs some form of strong editorial oversight and control ("Google struck with contempt charge", July 7). Something about power brings responsibility. - Steve Ngeow, Chatswood We can all move on Kerri Sackville, I usually love what you do but you do a real disservice to a lot of people by stating as fact that childhood wounds can never be healed ("Dreaming of Josh", Sunday Life, July 7). Of course they can. Whether you are willing to heal those wounds is another matter entirely. But if you want to wake up happy, find yourself a decent therapist, do the work, resolve whatever is causing the dreams and set yourself free from your past. - Jackie Blackledge, Artarmon To submit a letter to The Sun-Herald, email letters@smh.com.au. Click here for tips on how to submit letters.​