The Bishop of Chelmsford denied solutions within the media that the Church of England was “aiding and abetting” asylum seekers by means of the scheme by encouraging pretend conversions.
The church has been on the again foot since final week's acid assault on a girl and two kids in London's Clapham South.
Suspect Abdul Ezedi, who remains to be being hunted by police, got here to the UK from Afghanistan and mentioned he had transformed to Christianity, a declare supported by a priest. He was granted asylum regardless of being convicted of a sexual assault in Newcastle in 2018.
Former Residence Secretary Suella Braverman claimed that “church buildings throughout the nation” have been “facilitating bogus asylum claims on an industrial scale”.
The Bishop of Chelmsford, Guli Francis-Dehqani, responded to the claims within the documentary The Telegraph.
The bishop, who got here to the UK as a refugee from Iran, mentioned non secular clergymen solely approve conversion requests “after cautious consideration” and that “it’s incorrect to think about it as some form of magic ticket” to asylum.
“The concept that an individual will be rapidly persecuted by the asylum system, aided and abetted by the church, is just inaccurate,” she mentioned.
She cited baptismal pointers that inform preachers to remember that candidates totally perceive the which means.
She additionally mentioned that duty for assessing and vetting asylum seekers' functions rests with the Residence Workplace.
“As a Christian chief, I make no apologies for our involvement in supporting people who find themselves typically deeply susceptible and traumatized.
“However the church buildings haven’t any energy to bypass the federal government's responsibility to vet and approve functions – that’s the duty of the Residence Workplace,” she mentioned.
Dr. Francis-Dehqani additional rejected solutions of a hyperlink between bishops within the Home of Lords who oppose the federal government's Rwandan plan and the abuse of the asylum system.
“We’re not politicians and we all know that participating in a political debate will be bruising,” she mentioned.
“However those that have argued that there’s a hyperlink between the abuse of our asylum system and the actions of the bishops in Parliament are merely incorrect.
“It’s unhappy to see this being instructed by former holders of senior ministerial workplaces who had the chance however didn’t search to lift these considerations with senior clergy sooner.”
