Nice. The #EpiscopalChurch has announced it will end its decades-old partnership with the #government to resettle #refugees, citing #moral opposition to resettling #white #Afrikaners from #SouthAfrica who have been classified as refugees by the #Trump admin.
#immigration #law
https://religionnews.com/2025/05/12/episcopal-church-ends-refugee-resettlement-citing-moral-opposition-to-resettling-white-afrikaners/
In a letter sent to members of the church, the Most Rev. Sean W. Rowe—the presiding bishop of the #EpiscopalChurch—said that 2 weeks ago the govt “informed Episcopal Migration Ministries that under the terms of our federal #grant, we are expected to resettle #white #Afrikaners from #SouthAfrica whom the US government has classified as #refugees.”
The request, Rowe said, crossed a #moral line for the #EpiscopalChurch, which is part of the global Anglican Communion that boasts among its leaders the late Archbishop #DesmondTutu, a celebrated & vocal opponent of #apartheid in #SouthAfrica.
“In light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice & reconciliation & our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step,” Rowe wrote. “Accordingly, we have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our #refugee resettlement #grant agreements with the #US federal government.”
Rowe stressed that while Episcopal Migration Ministries will seek to “wind down all federally funded services by the end of the federal fiscal year in September,” the denomination will continue to support #immigrants & #refugees in other ways, such as offering #aid to refugees who have already been resettled.
The announcement came just as flights w/ #Afrikaners were scheduled to arrive…, the first batch of entries after #Trump declared via a February EO that the US would take in “#Afrikaners in #SouthAfrica who are *victims* of unjust racial discrimination.” The South African government has stridently denied allegations of systemic racial animus, as has a coalition of white religious leaders in the region that includes many Anglicans.
