c. 1997 Religion News Service
LONDON _ The Church of England’s general synod _ the Anglican denomination’s top governing body _ has called on the British government to revamp the nation’s refugee laws to make them more”humane.” The 575-member synod, which includes laity, priests and bishops, ended its Nov. 24-28 session by unanimously adopting the resolution calling for an asylum law that is”humane and non-discriminatory and which enjoys the confidence of all our communities.” But the synod refrained from endorsing the call a number of British church bodies have made for an amnesty giving families who have lived in the United Kingdom for more than five years and who have a child at least two years old that was born in the country permission to remain indefinitely.
Like other European and North American countries, Great Britain has seen a rise in anti-immigrant feelings in the past few years as the number of political and economic refugees around the world has risen.
The resolution was put forward by a north London vicar, the Rev. David Houlding, who for nine months last year _ when no state benefits were available to refugees _ sheltered a number of them in his church, a move similar to the”sanctuary movement”in the United States during the 1980s.
Houlding said he wanted the synod to send the government a”clear message”about its concern over the”fundamental injustice”of the 1996 Asylum and Immigration Act.
Arguing the law’s underlying principles restricting the granting of asylum were”unacceptable,”Houlding also said the procedures implementing it were not fair.”Many of our refugees are detained in prison for long periods without having committed an offense, and without it being properly explained to them,”he said.”This can be devastating for someone who has already fled imprisonment and torture and who dreads being sent back. The problem throughout `Fortress Europe’ today, however, is that governments are drafting new asylum legislation itself within the context of immigration policy, with little reference either to human rights violations in the countries from which the refugees flee or to their own legal obligations under international human rights treaties.” Houlding said there are more than 55,000 refuges waiting for their claims to be heard.”The system is in chaos and enjoys no-one’s confidence.” At the end of the five-day meeting, a top synod official also issued an unprecedented rebuke to the news media for the way it reported the church leaders’ debate on the issue of in vitro fertilization.
Secretary General Philip Mawer, describing himself as”angry,”said media reports of the debate”gave the impression that … the synod had approved the use of IVF treatment in non-heterosexual relationships”_ an understanding of the synod’s action he said was”entirely wrong.” Mawer said the incident was”simply the latest in a long line of episodes in which the Church’s clear ethical and pastoral position on a matter of great concern to many people has been misrepresented.” The synod passed _ 255-4 _ a resolution expressing its belief that the welfare of any child created by third party donation of eggs or sperm was”of overriding importance.”It also affirmed marriage as”the ideal context”for the procreation and rearing of children and said treatment should normally be given only to women of child-bearing age.
The adopted resolution replaced a more strict wording which called for artificial fertilization to be used”only to treat cases of infertility in married couples with stable and continuing heterosexual relationships.” Dr. Keith Masters, a gynecologist and lay delegate who sponsored the original motion, said he supported the”more up-to-date”substitute and also took issue with media reports that the resolution opened the door to church approval of in vitro fertilization for lesbian couples.”That’s not what the the motion says,”he said. He noted that secular law”allows the non-married to have IVF. This decision by synod is facing reality rather than soft-pedaling.” The media reports were prompted by a comment by John Polkinghorne, a scientist and Anglican priest who serves as chairman of the science, medicine and technology committee of the Church’s Board for Social Responsibility.
At a news conference after the debate, Polkinghorne, responded to a question by saying that a”supportive same-sex relationship is clearly better for children than a destructive heterosexual relationship, but we don’t want to compare the best case of one with the worst case of the other.” Polkinghorne’s comments resulted in such newspaper headlines as”Lesbians can be good mothers too, says Church”(The Daily Express),”Gays can make better parents, says Churchman”(The Daily Mail) and”Church backs IVF for unmarried couples”(The Times of London).
In another action, the synod began preliminary consideration of proposals to streamline the body’s operations. The proposal under consideration suggests cutting the size of the synod from its present 575 members to 390 and changing the way its lay members are elected.
But the initial debate suggested if the proposals are ever put to a vote, they have less than a slim chance of being approved.
END NOWELL
