Calls to ban Christian prayer groups and chaplains from government schools in the wake the Islamist-inspired terrorist killing of Parramatta police finance worker Curtis Cheng are a knee-jerk reaction and risk throwing the baby out with the bath water.

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For release: Monday 8 September 2014

Liberal Member for Longman Wyatt Roy’s call for a doubling of Australia’s humanitarian intake should be heeded, according to the Australian Christian Lobby.

Mr Roy’s call comes a week after the Coalition’s junior partner, The Nationals, voted unanimously in favour of an urgency motion seeking an increase at its Federal Council meeting in Canberra.

ACL Managing Director Lyle Shelton said 19,500 people had signed ACL’s on-line petition calling for an increase in the wake of the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities by the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

“The Government deserves credit for stopping people smuggling, halting the deaths at sea and removing children from detention,” Mr Shelton said.

“But the problem of 51 million displaced people in the world is massive and has been further exacerbated by the persecution of hundreds of thousands of Christians and other religious minorities in Syria and Iraq.

“While Australia’s refugee intake of 13,700 is generous on a per capita basis, much more needs to be done to help suffering people.

“Extraordinary brutality requires extraordinary generosity and Australia, as a relatively wealthy nation, is well-placed to do more.”

Mr Shelton said Mr Roy was right to point out the escalating persecution of Christians in north Africa and the Middle East.

While resettlement of refugees was necessary, the international community should also be ultimately seeking to establish safe havens for Christians and other persecuted religious minorities so that they could return to their homes in Syria and Iraq.

“The Islamists’ goal of purging Christians, Yazidis and other Muslim minorities should not be allowed to stand,” Mr Shelton said.

Last Saturday, ACL's managing director Lyle Shelton called for an increase to Australia’s humanitarian intake when he addressed a crowd of about 4,000 who rallied in Melbourne to condemn the persecution of Christians in Iraq.



The rally was organised by leaders from Australian churches with Middle Eastern roots as a show of solidarity with the hundreds and thousands of Christians who have been driven from their homes in northern Iraq under the threat of 'convert to Islam or die' by Islamic state militants.



Mr Shelton said he wants the government to increase its intake from the current 13,700 refugees a year it takes.  ACL has launched a campaign calling on the federal government to increase Australia's humanitarian migrant intake and to offer asylum to those fleeing persecution. You can add your voice by signing the petition at refugees.acl.org.au.



"The Australian Christian Lobby is calling upon the federal government to increase our humanitarian intake so that we can take some of these refugees and share some of the burden," Mr Shelton told the crowd.



Other speakers on the day included Bernie Finn MLC, Bishop Suriel of the Coptic Orthodox Church and Father Geoff Harvey of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, as well as other leaders from the Assyrian, Syriac, and Chaldean churches.



ACL supporter Collin Nunis, who was also at the rally, said that "Though this rally was born out of very unfortunate circumstances, the rally was also a blessing as it brought Australian Christian churches together in solidarity and spirit; Christians from all walks of life professing one faith."



We continue to hear stories of persecution Christians are facing in Syria and Iraq.



An ACL supporter in Victoria said he has received a text message from a Syrian business associate based in Abu Dhabi about the continuing persecution of Christians in his homeland.



The text message he received from the associate said:

• Yesterday my relatives - a woman and child - were killed in Damascus and terrorists gunmen now occupy their home.



• The situation is very bad in the capital.



• I told you more than 120,000 Syrian Christians threatened with death in the coming days.



• It's really holocaust for the Christians in Syria and Iraq.



• I have no home to go back to it, but we trust in Christ to help us.

Last week, ACL's Katherine Spackman interviewed religious liberty analyst Elizabeth Kendal  about the plight of Iraqi Christians who have been ordered by ISIS militants to leave the city of Mosul or convert to Islam. You can listen to the interview here.

Melbourne rally in support of persecuted Iraqi Christians this Saturday, 1:30pm, Federation Square



We thought we had learned from the ethnic and religious purges of the Holocaust and the Balkans.



‘Never again’ was the vain refrain.



But this week hundreds of thousands of Christians have been driven from their homes in northern Iraq under the threat of convert to Islam or die by Islamic state militants.



Chilling images of decapitation, crucifixions and summary mass executions have filled news websites all week.



The images are hard to verify but the reports indicate that the killings include Shiites, former Iraqi army members and Christians.



Churches are being ransacked and destroyed.



In alarming echoes of the Holocaust where Jews were marked with the Star of David, Christian homes have been marked with the Arabic letter ‘N’ to signify that they are followers of the Nazarene, Jesus.



Christians have been in this region for 2000 years and now almost all have fled.



Many of my Facebook friends have changed their profile picture to the Arabic letter ‘N’ as a show of solidarity.



It was also good to see prominent global Muslim leaders condemn the violence.



With world leaders understandably paralysed by the other numbing tragic crises in Gaza and Ukraine, much of what is occurring in northern Iraq is going on under the radar.



However, it was also good to see the Australian government pledge $5 million in aid.



This week, religious liberty analyst Elizabeth Kendal spoke to ACL’s Katherine Spackman about the plight of Iraqi Christians who have been ordered by ISIS militants to leave the city of Mosul or convert to Islam.



Leaders of Australian churches with Middle Eastern roots are understandably very concerned. Many have loved ones in war-torn Syria and Iraq.



They have organised a rally at Melbourne’s Federation Square this Saturday at 1:30pm.



ACL’s Victorian Director Dan Flynn and I will be there. If you can, please join us as a sign of solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering.

CLICK HERE TO EMAIL THE SUDANESE AMBASSADOR

(link not displaying properly? copy this address into your email client to email Ambassador Mohamed Omer - [email protected])

Sudan's appeals court this week began considering the case of Meriam Ibrahim who is sentenced to death for the alleged crime of apostasy, The Independent newspaper has reported.

The appeal petition argues that there were "procedural errors" during Meriam's trial which would thereby warrant her release.

If the appeals court upholds the original conviction, Meriam will receive 100 lashes for adultery after the court refused to recognise her marriage to a Christian man and be subject to death by hanging for apostasy.

Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop last week announced Australia's condemnation of the sentencing and said she'd instructed Australia'a Ambassador to Sudan to raise the case with the Sudanese government.

Over one million people worldwide have called for Meriam's release. Christian and human rights organisations around the world have collected hundreds and thousands of signatures in pursuit of this.

Last month, the 27-year-old gave birth to a baby girl in a prison clinic. She is currently imprisoned with both her daughter and 20-month-old son.

Sudan outlaws apostasy in 1991 yet Amnesty International reports that to-date, no one have been executed for the 'crime'…all have recanted their faith.

Meriam is the first person to refuse to recant.

Please keep Meriam, her husband Daniel and their family in your prayers.

CLICK HERE TO EMAIL THE SUDANESE AMBASSADOR

MEDIA RELEASE



Wednesday, 20th February 2013



The Australian Christian Lobby has backed the push by shadow Attorney-General George Brandis to ensure that basic human rights are better protected.



ACL Managing Director Jim Wallace agreed with concerns raised by Senator Brandis that the Australian Human Rights Commission is focused too much on anti-discrimination to the detriment of basic freedoms such as speech and religion.



“It is important basic human rights are not subordinated to other agendas. Where other right claims conflict with long-established human rights such as freedom of religion, freedom of speech and freedom of the press, it should be a greater priority of the Australian Human Rights Commission to defend and advocate for these,” he said.



“Whilst non-discrimination and equality are important, it is also important that these do not subordinate human rights which make for a free society.



“It is absolutely essential for free speech and the freedom of religion that people are able to express and live their views about family, marriage and life in the public square without fear of being subject to an anti-discrimination claim because their views differ from others.



“ACL believes human rights are paramount to a well-functioning society and that Christian values contributed to some of the most significant progress in the development of human rights as evidenced through the anti-slavery and civil rights movements,” Mr Wallace said.



Mr Wallace urged the Government to also consider the direction of the AHRC and re-orientate its work to protecting basic human rights.

For release: April 15, 2010

The Australian Christian Lobby has welcomed a commitment from Victorian Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu that if elected a Coalition Government would introduce legislation that would effectively fix the draconian provisions in the Brumby Government's Equal Opportunity Bill in relation to religious organisations and the sweeping new powers being given to the Equal Opportunity Commission.

Mr Baillieu confirmed the Coalition parties' commitment when he met with ACL Managing Director Jim Wallace and ACL Victorian Director Rob Ward together with Shadow Attorney-General Robert Clark, at Parliament House in Melbourne yesterday.

Mr Ward said churches, Christian schools and religious charities would breathe easier without the 'big brother' investigative powers the Bill grants the Equal Opportunities and Human Rights Commission.

And allowing religious organisations the same freedom that political parties enjoy to employ people who shared their ethos was also welcome.

“We hope the Government will look seriously at today's commitment by the Opposition and amend the Bill so religious groups are not looking over their shoulder,” Mr Ward said.

“It is ludicrous that the Commission could be given powers of investigation when no complaint has been made and that churches and Christian schools would not be free to hire people who reflect their ethos as a matter of course in the same way political parties do.”

Media Contact: Rob Ward 0408 348 352.