Churches offer sanctuary to asylum seekers

[bluecat*dancing]

Good on them.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/churches-become-potential-flashpoint-after-off...

Churches have taken the extraordinary step of offering sanctuary to asylum seekers facing deportation in the wake of a High Court verdict, raising the prospect of police raids on places of worship and possible charges for clergy.

Ten Anglican churches and cathedrals have invoked the ancient Christian tradition to offer protection to the 267 people - including 37 babies - facing imminent transfer to Nauru after the court on Wednesday upheld the legality of the government's offshore processing regime.

"This is a hugely significant action for any Australian church to take. Historically churches have afforded sanctuary to those seeking refuge from brutal and oppressive forces," Dr Catt said on Thursday.

"We offer this refuge because there is irrefutable evidence from health and legal experts that the circumstances asylum seekers, especially children, would face if sent back to Nauru are tantamount to state-sanctioned abuse.

"This fundamentally goes against our faith, so our church community is compelled to act, despite the possibility of individual penalty against us."

Dr Catt called it a "fledgling movement".

"What we expect to happen in the course of the day and the next few days is that many churches from many denominations will sign up," he said.

The sanctuary offer came as the United Nations urged Australia to put the interests of children first.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child believes Australia has an inadequate understanding of the rights of asylum seeker children.

"This decision by the High Court greatly concerns us as these children and their families face a great risk in being sent to a place that cannot be considered safe nor adequate," said committee chair Benyam Mezmur.

[bluecat*dancing]

 I don't know if it was token support or not but it was lovely and much appreciated.

[bluecat*dancing]

http://hrlc.org.au/un-warns-government-that-deporting-children-to-nauru-is-likely-to-breach-internat...

The group of 267, at imminent risk of deportation to Nauru or Manus after yesterday’s High Court ruling, includes 37 babies, 54 children and over a dozen women who were sexually assaulted or harassed on Nauru.

The HRLC’s Director of Legal Advocacy, Daniel Webb, said it was now up to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to do the decent things and let these families stay.

“When you have doctors risking jail to speak out, when Church leaders feel they need to offer sanctuary to kids, when the Government relies on retrospective laws to defeat legal challenges, when the United Nations has to remind us of our obligations under international law, then perhaps it’s time to accept that we’ve lost all perspective – there’s simply no excuse to condemn children to a life in limbo on a tiny island,” said Mr Webb.

[***super_nova***]

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@donnashuggy wrote:

Unless you can honestly say with your heart and soul that you want thousands of troubled displaced people living in your street then you are most likely kidding yourself ethically.

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Nobody is getting " thousands of troubled displaced people living in their street ".  EU has population 507billion people, even if they took the whole 9 million of Syrians, it would be maybe one per suburb.  And once they are given opportunity to lead normal life, they would not be desperate.  They would be grateful and working/studying hard to make up for all the lost time, as most refugees do.  And here in Australia, if the people in out camps were processed and those deemed eligible for refugee status brought on mainland we would not even notice.

[Anonymous]

Nobody is getting " thousands of troubled displaced people living in their street ".

street, suburb, what's the

difference?

[the_great_she_elephant]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoRdCbDd50o

Previous to the Syrian war, Homs was a major industrial centre, and with a population of at least 652,609 people in 2004,[6] it was the third largest city in Syria after Aleppo to the north and the capital Damascus to the south.

[bluecat*dancing]

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/pm-must-protect-asylum-seekers-brisbane-rally-20160205-gm...

The protest, outside Brisbane's immigration office on Friday, follows a High Court ruling that paves the way for 267 people brought to Australia for medical treatment, including babies, to be deported to Nauru.

The Anglican Dean of Brisbane, the Very Reverend Dr Peter Catt, and Greens Senator Larissa Waters both called for Mr Turnbull to intervene to stop the children and their families being deported.

Dr Catt was given a warm reception at the rally where he spoke of the support he'd received since offering to protect those facing deportation.

He's warned authorities they'll have to bash down church doors and arrest clergy to deport those who take up the church's offer of sanctuary.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has insisted the government won't be dragging asylum seekers out of churches to cart them back to Nauru.He said most were people accompanying ill family members and the government would be looking to send them back to Nauru or their country of origin once medical assistance was completed.

[donnashuggy]

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@***super_nova*** wrote:

---

@donnashuggy wrote:

Unless you can honestly say with your heart and soul that you want thousands of troubled displaced people living in your street then you are most likely kidding yourself ethically.

---

Nobody is getting " thousands of troubled displaced people living in their street ".  EU has population 507billion people, even if they took the whole 9 million of Syrians, it would be maybe one per suburb.  And once they are given opportunity to lead normal life, they would not be desperate.  They would be grateful and working/studying hard to make up for all the lost time, as most refugees do.  And here in Australia, if the people in out camps were processed and those deemed eligible for refugee status brought on mainland we would not even notice.

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So would you agree that having thousands of troubled displaced people living in your street would be a problem?

[bluecat*dancing]

There are now 12 churches across Australia offering sanctuary.

[icyfroth]

It'll be interesting to see if the muslims will want to take refuge in a Chrisian church or whether that will go too much against the grain.

Or will it be "any port in a storm" kind of thing?

Opportunism has always been a handy trait.

[donnashuggy]

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/muslims-who-saved-jews-from-holocaust-commemorated-i...