The Australian Christian Lobby has welcomed news that the Federal Government will contribute an additional $10 million towards the Rohingya refugee crisis that is unfolding in Myanmar and Bangladesh. 

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The Australian Christian Lobby today welcomed the Turnbull Government’s decision to allow 22 Coptic Christian families to stay in Australia and have their refugee claims reviewed.

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The Australian Government should condemn the jailing of former Christian governor of Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, also known as Ahok, for alleged blasphemy against Islam, according to the Australian Christian Lobby.

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The slaughter of dozens of Christians attending Palm Sunday services in Egypt is shocking.

News pictures of splintered pews and blood soaked carpet are so out of place with our conception of church as a sanctuary of peace, love and worship.

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Revelation 6:9-11

When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”  Then a white robe was given to each of them...

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The Australian Christian Lobby has expressed its condolences to Coptic Christians following yesterday’s murderous church bombings in the Egyptian cities of Alexandria and Tanta.

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The Australian Christian Lobby has denounced the recent attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt which occurred at the epicentre of the international Coptic Orthodox community.

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MEDIA RELEASE



5 May 2016



The Australian Christian Lobby welcomes news that a complaint against Hobart’s Catholic Archbishop Julian Porteous and the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has been dropped today by the complainant, Greens candidate Martine Delaney.



However, Australian Christian Lobby Managing Director Lyle Shelton said it was a travesty of justice that Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Commissioner believed the Archbishop had a case to answer simply for distributing the Catholic Church marriage booklet “Don’t Mess with Marriage.”



“What Archbishop Porteous did was completely reasonable and he should have the right to express a point of view on marriage,” Mr Shelton said.



“This was an example of where State-based Human Rights Commissions are often being weaponised by activists against those with different views.



“A complaint does not even have to be legally defensible for process to start, for lawyers to be engaged, mediation to be required and for intimidation to be achieved. This is ripe for abuse by activists on legally spurious grounds.



“Being taken to law is extremely intimidating for laypeople who express reasonable views in debates. They have watched the case of Archbishop Julian Porteous and they are being silenced for fear of retribution.



“This is how misguided laws and legal processes are silencing the community.”



Mr Shelton said it would not be an unprecedented move to temporarily set-aside the anti-discrimination laws.



“This is not a new idea. In the UK a speech protection exists in s29J of the Public Order Act 1986 which states in part, ‘any discussion or criticism of marriage which concerns the sex of the parties to marriage shall not be taken of itself to be threatening or intended to stir up hatred’,” Mr Shelton said. 



“This is a genuine need so that activists don’t abuse the law as Rodney Croome of Australian Marriage Equality did when he urged supporters to report Archbishop Porteous to the Human Rights Commission for completely benign and reasonable comments about marriage.

“When the law stops decent people from saying reasonable things, it is defective.”



ENDS



Media Contact: 02 6259 0431

Yesterday the NSW upper house member, the Rev. Hon. Fred Nile, moved a motion in the New South Wales Legislative Council condemning the assault by the Islamic terrorist movement on Assyrian Christians. The motion was passed unanimously by the upper house.



Below is a copy of Rev Fred Nile’s media release.

Media Release

Rev Fred Nile successfully moves unanimously a Motion to protect the Assyrian Christian in Iraq from the ISIL brutal death squads

13 August 2014

On Tuesday12 August 2014, Rev Nile moved the following Motion which was passed unanimously by the NSW Upper House relating to bloody attacks and murders by the ISIL Islamic terrorist movement of Assyrian Christians.



I move Private members’ business item No. 1927 outside the order of precedence, standing in my name relating to Assyrian Christian Communities.



ASSYRIAN CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES

That this House:

(a) condemns Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's [ISIL] assault on Mosul, Ramadi and other cities in northern and central Iraq;

(b) notes that the conflict has resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people thus becoming refugees in surrounding countries and provinces;

(c) further notes that all the Iraqi communities are affected by this turmoil particularly Assyrian Christian communities of Nineveh Province;

(d) recognises the ongoing support of the Assyrian community in New South Wales for responding to the ongoing turmoil by providing support for the refugees;

(e) supports the Australian Government in its effort to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to the displaced families;

(f) reaffirms this House's call for the establishment of an Assyrian province in their ancestral homeland in northern Iraq; and

(g) recognises the ongoing efforts of the Assyrian Universal Alliance—Australia for its tireless efforts to bring the plight of Assyrians to the attention of the Australia Government, in particular Mr Hermiz Shahen, Deputy Secretary General, and Mr David David, President of the Assyrian Australian National Federation.



“Commemoration of the Assyrian Martyrs and Genocide Day”

On Sunday 10th August 2014 the Rev Fred Nile was warmly thanked for his efforts on behalf of the Assyrian Christians in Iraq by the large audience of 600 representatives at the Commemoration of the Assyrian Martyrs and Genocide Day at Edessa Reception Hall, St Hurmizd’s Cathedral, Greenfield Park NSW.

MEDIA RELEASE



For release: Friday August 1, 2014



Australia should raise its humanitarian intake to assist Iraqi and Syrian Christians fleeing the ‘convert or die’ regime of the terrorist Islamic State, according to the Australian Christian Lobby.



ACL Managing Director Lyle Shelton will call for an increase in the humanitarian intake to target Christians and other minorities when he addresses a rally in Melbourne tomorrow called to show solidarity with the persecuted Christians of Iraq.



“France and Kurdistan have been very generous in offering asylum to persecuted Christians and Australia should also share some of the burden,” he said.



While Australia’s leaders are understandably distracted by the other crises in Gaza and Ukraine, we must not forget the purge and murder of Christians and other minorities in northern Iraq.



“Hundreds of thousands have fled, churches have been destroyed and there are widespread reports of genocide.



“Christians have lived in this region for 2000 years and are the indigenous people of the area yet they are being driven out of their homes by murderous terrorists,” he said.



Mr Shelton said the echoes of the Holocaust were chilling with the Arabic letter N for Nazarene (Jesus) marked on Christian houses in the same way the Star of David symbol was used by the Nazis to designate Jews.



ACL has also begun an online petition for people to add their voice to the call for an increase in the humanitarian intake to help the persecuted.



Mr Shelton said Christians were by far the most persecuted people group in the world today.



The rally will be held at 1:30pm at Federation Square.