wfn.org | AUSTRALIA: CHURCHES SPEAK OUT ON IMMIGRATION

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Title; AUSTRALIA: CHURCHES SPEAK OUT ON IMMIGRATION
May 30, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal,Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Office
London, England

[97.5.4.3]

AUSTRALIA: CHURCHES SPEAK OUT ON IMMIGRATION

(ENI) Australia's Church leaders have entered a growing national
controversy over an independent member of Federal Parliament who is
opposed to the national policy of accepting migrants from Asia.

Over recent months Pauline Hanson's anti-immigrant and anti-Aboriginal
views have provoked widespread anger in a country that has one of the
most diverse racial mixes in the world. But she  has also gained support
from some quarters. Ms Hanson promotes an extreme right-wing populism
that, according to one recent opinion poll, has won her the support of
one in four Australians.   A recent book, written anonymously but
authorised by Hanson, speculates that in the year 2050 Australia will be
part of the United States of Asia, ruled by a lesbian president called
"Poona Li Hung". Leaders of Australia main churches - including the
Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Uniting churches, the Churches of Christ,
the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the
Coptic Orthodox Church, the Assyrian Orthodox Church, the Antiochian
Orthodox Church , the Salvation Army and the Society of Friends - urged
Christians to repudiate the "voices that call forth racism and hate".

The 11 Church heads published  - through the National Council of
Churches in Australia - an unprecedented joint pastoral letter urging
Christians to stand up against "falsehoods that pretend to be the
truth"... "In the present atmosphere we who claim to be Christians have
a special responsibility to ensure our attitudes and involvements as
citizens are informed by the faith we profess."

Among the signatories are the head of the Roman Catholic Church in
Australia, Cardinal Edward Clancy, the Primate of the Anglican Church,
Archbishop Keith Rayner, and Archbishop Stylianos, of the Greek Orthodox
Church.

The letter, to be distributed to congregations across the country, said
there were signs of "growing suspicion, anxiety, even fear in this
country  ... Serious divisions have appeared in the community. The
unease is fed by a number of factors, including the pace of change,
marked and growing inequities and a widespread feeling that
decision-makers are remote from people's difficulties."

"When jobs, money and services appear to be dwindling, our compassion,
generosity and respect for one another can easily diminish too.

"Voices that call forth resentment, racism and hate receive a hearing
Australians normally would not give them," it said. "We call on
Christians to cherish Australia's rich diversity of ethnic identities
and resist the idea that any migrant group can be blamed for the
country's problems."

It also urged Christians "to stand with Australia's indigenous people,
beyond doubt the most disadvantaged group in this country".