Northumbria Community

I resisted the temptation to put a brick through the newsagents window but had I come anyway near to the offices of the right wing tabloid press, I would have been sorely tempted towards an act of vandalism.  Two or three pages of such Murdock media driven propaganda fuelling the fears and concerns of people on the issue of immigration show a total disregard for the values of God’s kingdom.  My anger I know is fuelled by news this morning that a dear brother in Christ, Anselme, who has been part of the church at Portrack (my first pastorate) has been deported back to Cameroon where he faces at best an uncertain future and more probably will be beaten, tortured and possibly killed.  A series of blunders, some incompetence and a failure by our authorities, coupled with the media’s stirring up resentment on the eve of a General Election concerning asylum seekers and the issues of immigration have all played their part in condemning someone who looked to Britain to provide him with a safe haven and an opportunity to put his life together following the horrendous treatment he experienced and others in his family because he dared to question the ruling party.  I and others have been texting him whilst he has been incarcerated in a Holding Centre.  The cruelty of the staff not allowing him to recharge his mobile phone during the last 12 hours before he was deported illustrates the levels of barbarity and lack of compassion of which as a British citizen I am ashamed and angered by.  Whatsoever you did for the least of these …

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