Adventist Leaders in Australia Call for Compassion in Foreign Policy

Adventist Review Online | Adventist Leaders in Australia Call for Compassion in Foreign Policy


The church leaders’ statement—one of over 9,000 public submissions to the government’s foreign policy white paper—was coordinated by Christian campaign group Micah Australia and is endorsed by signatories from the Adventist, Anglican, Apostolic, Baptist, Catholic, Chinese Methodist, Churches of Christ, Congregational, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Salvation Army and Uniting churches.

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After outlining a biblical theology for justice and compassion, the submission addresses specific issues, including “the scourge of poverty, economic exclusion and rising inequality, grave breaches of people’s human and civic rights, and the vulnerability of our nation and our neighbours to natural disasters and the increasing impact of climate change.” The submission also made mention of the “unprecedented global displacement of people”. “More people on the face of the planet are either refugees or internally displaced than at any other time in human history…. Australia’s foreign policy must continue to make peace-keeping and conflict prevention an urgent priority.”