A Magistrate has dismissed the charges against five Christians who took part in a prayer vigil last month at the Immigration Minister’s office, saying “If ever there was a peaceful protest this was it. This was the other end of the scale of the Cronulla Riots.”

The five Christians, including Christian activist Jarrod McKenna and World Vision staff member Jody Lightfoot all appeared before Sutherland local court today, pleading guilty. They are from a variety of churches, including Quaker, Catholic, Uniting, Churches of Christ, and Hillsong.

At 1pm on the 21st March, nine Christians entered Scott Morrison’s local office, as a “non-violent act of civil disobedience in the form of a prayer vigil.”

“The aim was to pray about the asylum seeker issue in public, to draw attention to Australia’s cruel policies of indefinite detention,” said Matt Anslow, one of the people present at the vigil.

Scott Morrison was not in his office at the time, but the group stressed to his staff members that they meant no harm, and wanted to pray peacefully.

“We knew that some in Scott Morrison’s office, including Scott, are Christian and attend local churches. We invited them to join us in prayer as they wanted.” But the staff did not join.

The group prayed for two hours before they were interrupted by police and asked to leave.

Matt Anslow said the group were drawing on a tradition of Christian civil disobedience.

“Martin Luther King Jr spoke about there being times when civil disobedience is necessary to dramatise an issue of injustice so that it can no longer be ignored.

“For us to be silent in the face of injustice is to be complicit in the injustice, for us not to speak is to speak,” he said.

Outside court today, the group held what one of the defendants, Donna Mulhearn called “a moving liturgy” prior to facing the Magistrate.