Churches defend integrity over asylum seeker welcome at Select Committee
The Biblical motivations for why Baptist churches are supporting vulnerable asylum seekers – and the difficult ramifications at being featured in the national press for doing so – were shared with MPs
The Baptist Union's Public Issues Enabler Steve Tinning told the Home Affairs select committee on Tuesday (12 March) scriptural teaching was ‘explicit’ in welcoming the stranger.
Consequently Baptist churches and others are ‘desperately keen wherever they can to welcome people at whatever stage on that journey, if they are perceived to be in need.’
Nevertheless, churches recognise their responsibility in doing so as ‘honestly and as clearly and as healthily as they possibly can.’
The committee, chaired by Labour MP Diana Johnson and consisting of Lee Anderson (Reform) and Tim Loughton (Conservative) among others, was hearing evidence in the wake of claims Clapham attacker Abdul Ezedi received asylum because of his conversion to Christianity.
There have also been reports of a ‘conveyor belt’ system of baptisms of asylum seekers hoping to obtain leave to remain in the UK on religious grounds.
Steve (pictured) and representatives of the Church of England and Catholic Church robustly defended the integrity of the Church as they answered questions about their churches' conversion and baptism procedures.
Steve said for Baptist churches, baptism and church membership are often ‘very closely aligned’.
This means it’s ‘very unusual’ for a Baptist church to walk with somebody in their journey of baptism - and then never see them again. If this does happen, it’s often because they’ve been moved away to a different part of the country.
This means some of the national reporting about the asylum seekers not returning to churches following their baptisms had therefore been ‘desperately unhelpful’, Steve said.
‘When you dig a bit deeper, it's because they've been moved on out of the community, and they've gone on to express their faith in other places and other ways.’
Steve also told the MPs a key factor why many asylum seekers convert to Christianity is the very welcome they receive. ‘It is no wonder that in an environment that is so hostile towards them as human beings, when they are given a warm welcome… when they're embraced as part of a community…. that this instils questions about the motivation of the people that have expressed that welcome.’
Steve also highlighted the harmful impact being in the national spotlight had had on Weymouth Baptist Church. The church had featured prominently in the national press because it had baptised asylum seekers currently housed on the nearby Bibby Stockholm barge.
He said, ‘On the situation in Weymouth, if the church were here today, the one thing they would want me to articulate before the committee is the sadness and the fear they have felt as since some comments have been made by MPs around this issue.
‘They sent me an email sent to them that said:
“You need shutting down and the backlash from this will be huge.”
“The truth is, you know you're lying and cheating our system. Treacherous to taxpaying people. Brace yourself.”
‘This is a small church in the south coast who are desperately trying to express a kindness towards people they consider vulnerable. They've been on the barge, they’ve seen the conditions they're in. They've come to them expressing faith.
‘One lady that exemplifies that church community is over 80 years old, and she is known by the asylum seekers as ‘the huggy lady,’ because she will not let them leave the church without expressing Christian love and kindness to them.
‘This church is fearing the backlash because of language used [by MPs] about taxpayers being scammed by the church; others saying: “you attend Mass once a week for a few months and bingo, you're signed off by a member of the clergy.”
‘It's just not true. And it's doing damage to communities desperately trying to serve the poor and the vulnerable in their areas.'
He added, ‘I'm not trying to berate anyone. I'm just trying to say we all have a responsibility to recognise the consequences of all our actions.
‘We as a church definitely have that responsibility.’
Committee member Alison Thewliss (SNP) said it was ’disturbing’ to hear the Baptist church had been targeted.
Steve had earlier been asked about Weymouth Baptist Church. He explained seven asylum seekers have been baptised at the church since October. Around 40 are attending churches in the area, with 25-30 attending the Baptist church. They are currently working with a Farsi-speaking Christian leader and a Baptist minister to better understand their faith. Those baptised ‘gave full testimony of Christian conversion – all of which occurred in their country of origin,’ and they are ‘vibrant members of the community at that church,’ Steve said.
Chair Diana Johnson thanked Steve for sharing the Weymouth story and how the church was currently feeling. ‘I think that was a very important point to hear about that particular church,’ she said.
Steve appeared alongside the Right Reverend Guli Francis-Dehqani, the Bishop of Chelmsford and Revd Canon Christopher Thomas, senior priest in the Catholic Church.
The committee had earlier heard from the Revd Matthew Firth, who had previously written in The Telegraph that there was a "conveyor belt" system of baptisms of asylum seekers hoping to obtain leave to remain in the UK on religious grounds.
He told the committee that ‘six or seven’ mainly Iranian and Syrian young male asylum seekers were brought to him ‘every two or three weeks’.
The Diocese of Durham had disputed this, saying there had been 15 baptisms of potential asylum seekers since 2014. Seven had been performed by Mr Firth.
Access the Select Committee Hearing on 12 March here
Images | UK Parliament | Open Parliament Licence v3.0
Baptist Times, 14/03/2024