The leaders of the Anglican Church in Australia released a letter to their congregations over the weekend expressing their concern with the Australian Government’s response to boat people and asylum seekers. Read the full text of the letter below.

Meanwhile, in Perth today a group of 11 Christians, again led by West City Church’s Jarrod McKenna, were arrested after they stageda prayer sit-in in the electoral office of Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. They have been charged with trespass. It’s the second prayer sit-in a month, with the first staged in Sydney in Immigration Minister Scott Morrison’s office. Five Sydney protestors were arrested for trespass but in court last week the charges were dismissed, with the local magistrate saying “if ever there was a peaceful protest this was it.”

Prayer protest in electorial office of Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in Perth. Photo via Twitter @Miikgreen

The group of protesters in Perth, who identify with a variety of Christian churches including Churches of Christ, Riverview, Baptist, Uniting and Anglican, entered Ms Bishop’s electoral office and observed the prayer vigil for “the children imprisoned by Australia’s inhumane asylum policies.” They have reported that police are on site, where the group is refusing to leave. Pastor Peter Barney of Riverview Church in Perth is part of the protest, and has said he felt moved to participate in “nonviolent direct action” in light of the failure of the Government to protect the wellbeing of children in immigration detention.”

“There is an inevitability about the damage we are doing to these children,” said Mr Barney.

“Churches are speaking with one voice about the cruelty happening to children in our detention centres. But we are routinely ignored by politicians who claim to share Christian values,” said The Reverend Chris Bedding, an Anglican priest also participating in the protest.

Read more about the Sydney prayer protest, here.

Read the reasoning behind the prayer protest movement, by Jarrod McKenna, here.

Read the letter from Australia’s Anglican Archbishops:

As leaders of the Anglican Church of Australia we wish to put on record our profound disquiet that at the end of February this year there were more than 950 children in detention facilities and alternative places of detention in Australia, and a further 177 children in offshore detention in Nauru.  The average time people spend in detention is more than eight months.

While our Federal Government has been drawing attention to the number of days without boat arrivals, this is another set of numbers that needs close scrutiny.  These children are innocent victims of tragic circumstances.  To use the words of the UN Charter on the rights of the child, detention of children should be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate time.

As church leaders, we are not seeking to express a party political opinion on this matter.  Within our Church there is grave disquiet about the asylum seeker policies of both major parties.

It is our view that those who flee from desperate circumstances by boat should not be punished by prolonged detention whether in Australia, Nauru or Manus Island. They are not the people smugglers. They are people made in the image of God, who deserve respect from all Australians, but especially our Government and its agencies.  They come to Australia out of desperation, fleeing religious, ethnic or economic persecution. They seek asylum under the Refugee Convention that as a nation we have signed. Many will be found to be refugees, as the Government’s own statistics demonstrate.

We call on the Australian Government to ensure that asylum seekers are treated humanely and respectfully by those charged with their care and protection, and that they are attended to in a timely manner.