Mikk
Nothing like twisting the truth ah. I wonder where that comes from? The old fallacy that it is the left who have all the compassion despite what history shows. Nothing could be further from the truth. We know who for the sake of protecting their own immorality many on the left promote the abortion trade.

Surely it is totally hypocritical to pretend to be compassionate and pretend to be the hardliners as the Rudd Government has and is. This sort of hypocrisy has led to people paying money and trying to get here illegally and drowning on the way. No one is stupid enough to not be able to see this ideology is flawed.

It seems quite ironic that someone who shows such contempt for Scripture finds himself/herself using or twisting it to support their own ideology.

Where is the 'twist', Runner?
The quotes Mikk supplied all seem pretty authentic to me.
Which ones do you disagree with?

Tonyf, thanks for your comment. The Rohingya teenager I mention in the article arrived in Indonesia on one of the boats that had been forced back out to sea by the Thai Government. Some of the others on the boat didn't survive. Thailand is even worse than Malaysia and Indonesia at least has some better level of treatment for many asylum seekers, thanks to Australia's assistance. It is hard to understand how people can interpret their religion in a way that allows such inhumanity. Susan Metcalfe

Leigh
You’re wrong about Christianity having nothing to do with refugees. Theologian Marcus J. Borg describes the exile and Exodus as “the most important story” of the Jewish scriptures, and it strongly influences the NT. Moses, Daniel, Joseph, Abraham, Jacob, David, many of the prophets, the Babylonian exiles who wrote of their anguish in Psalm 137, Joseph and Mary, Jesus and Paul were all refugees. The bible repeatedly and explicitly refers to care for the stranger and alien as a central concern of ethics and social conventions – as mikk’s post clearly shows.

Runner,
Do you seriously believe that refugees would be better off staying in the camps than coming here? Don’t you realised that they take the risks they do because the situations they are in are intolerable – and, as the article points out, there is no orderly “queue” for them to join?

How you can take creationism literally but not the texts mikk quotes? And here are a few more:

You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt (Exodus 22:21)

You will not oppress the alien; you know how an alien feels, for you yourselves were once aliens in Egypt.
(Exodus 23:9)

When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 'The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God. (Lev 19.33-34)

Skeptic, I'm not sure I really understand what you mean about lying, although I am happy to be called too young. If you mean that in a group of politicans that some are liars then perhaps you missed my irony. If you mean that there are liars amongst groups of asylum seekers then that is really the subject for a whole other essay of it's own. There are many people who lie within the human race, from all groups - people on these forums are not always presenting the truth - but any discussion of lying needs to come within a context and with an analysis of why people are lying. I have been lied to by so many people in my life, by politicians, people arriving on planes, boats, boyfriends, family members, but for very different reasons, some for more understandable and more easily forgiveable reasons than others. I guess the underlying point of the article is that the Christian politicians are either lying to themselves or to us. Susan Metcalfe

Grim

I don't disagree with any of the Scriptures quoted by Mikk. It is the context that he/she is using that is deceitful as he/she and you I suspect well know. To encourage people to risk their lives is not compassionate as shown by the loss of life thus far.

Rhian

I don't think you can generalize when it comes to these refugees that are coming here. No doubt there are many who are desperate while others are just economic refugees (looking to bludge on the Australian tax payer). Many end up forming ghettos with no intention of integrating. As I said before there are numerous other people in just as bad if not worse situations who are waiting to come here. Our people should choose (through the Government)who they are to show compassion and generosity to and not be forced by some demented UN ideology