Three global Christian organisations have issued a joint statement expressing concern over US President Donald Trump’s recently announced immigration polices and particularly targeting the decision to indefinitely suspend admission for Syrian refugees as an “abysmal failure of compassion and responsibility”.
The World Council of Churches, ACT Alliance and the Lutheran World Federation released the joint statement after Mr Trump signed an executive order which suspends the entire refugee admissions program for 120 days, denies US entry to nationals from seven Muslim majority nations for 90 days and bans Syrian refugees from the country indefinitely.
They said while the measures had been introduced “in the name of protecting the nation from terrorists entering the US”, in practice “this order serves to further harm those who are the very victims of terrorism, genocide, religious and gender-based persecution, and civil war”.
Noting that many Christian leaders both in the US and elsewhere had expressed similar concerns, they said the Christian faith “calls us and all Christians to love and welcome the stranger, the refugee, the internally displaced person, the other” and to “treat him or her as we would like to be treated”.
“We affirm and insist that, as prescribed under international humanitarian and human rights law, all those in confirmed need of refuge and international protection have a right to receive it, regardless of their religious or ethnic identity,” they said in the statement.
The organisations said that with the world currently experiencing the “largest forced displacement crisis since World War II”, “[f]or the USA to more than halve its annual intake of refugees would not only severely affect people in urgent need of refuge, but also encourage other developed countries to participate in a further erosion of international protection for refugees.”
“We particularly regret the specific and indefinite suspension of refugee admission for Syrians, in view of the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in the region,” they said. “This is an abysmal failure of compassion and responsibility.”
Commending those, including churches and church-related organisations, who have aided those “escaping conflict, persecution and hardship worldwide – in particular in Syria and the Middle East – and supporting them upon resettlement in the USA and elsewhere”, the organisations said they “stand with all those who have called for an immediate reversal of this executive order”.
Earlier, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA issued a statement saying it stood “firmly” against the actions taken by Mr Trump, saying that given his decision to suspend immigration from seven predominantly Muslim nations will primarily impact Muslims, it is “extremely difficult for Mr Trump to credibly argue his intent is not to target the Muslim community”.
“Terrorism is not the product of any one religion and it has been shown that targeting refugees from these and other countries is a fool’s errand,” said General Secretary Jim Winkler. “And to enact what ultimately amounts to a ‘Muslim ban’ is to encourage terrorism. Further, any hint of favoritism shown toward Middle East Christians plays to Muslim fears that the Crusades are not over.”
On Monday, the World Evangelical Alliance issued a statement calling upon the “worldwide body of Christ to reflect the heart of God and to actively love and welcome refugees” and governments around the world to “clearly honour” international agreements including Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees.
Meanwhile, news that under Mr Trump’s executive order refugees who have undergone persecution because of their minority religion – including Christians in the Middle East – will have priority over other applicants when the US refugee program resumes has received a mixed response from Christian experts.
While David Curry, CEO of Open Doors USA, said in an article in Christianity Today that the organisation stood for a “need-based resettlement approach that treats all faiths equally” and couldn’t support a “religious test in the United States, or in any other country” , Nina Shea, director of Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, said in the same article that the news should be welcomed by Christians.
“[G]iving priority to persecuted religious minorities – minorities of any religious background – is not an injustice. Rather, it will serve justice, by upholding our highest ideals of offering refuge to genocide survivors and others among the world’s most vulnerable.”
