Room in your home for Syrian refugees?

#1130 for broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 27 Sep 2015

Australians are right to support the federal government’s decision to accept 12,000 Syrian refugees in a one-off increase to the normal humanitarian intake of 13,700 people.

Among the many issues raised by this decision are where to settle so many new arrivals, and how to manage the trauma some of them will carry as a result of their ordeal.

Presumably most will identify as Christian, but their religious beliefs and practices may be very different from what you might expect to find among Sydney Anglicans or Baptists. And not all those fleeing Syria are Christian, and not all are fleeing religious persecution.

Those who have spoken with the loudest voices, calling for love and compassion toward asylum seekers, now have the responsibility of matching words with actions, putting their money where their mouth is, offering hospitality to the men, women and children fleeing Syria in hope of a safe haven in a friendly, peaceful, democratic land. Advance, Australia.

I’m Rod Benson for the NSW Council of Churches.