Church weighs-in on Muslim ban

THE Church has condemned United States President, Donald Trump’s, ban on immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries –  two of which are in Africa.

The Diakonia Council of Churches (a church organisation representing twelve Christian denominations) issued a statement on Tuesday condemning Trump’s executive order.

The newly inaugurated US president signed the order into effect during his first week in office.

The Durban-based church council stated that it is “appalled” by the ban.

The statement read: “The reasons for the travel ban are short-sighted and ill-informed by facts.”

According to statistics released by the American-based NGO, Human Rights Watch, the number of US citizens killed in the last ten years by extremists was 16 as compared to the 11 737 people who they said were ‘shot by another American’.

The council said, “The President is targeting the wrong risk to American lives, and should, but won’t, target gun ownership and the irresponsible use of fire-arms within the US. Instead he has focused on what appears to be an easy target group, and has contradicted the words written for the Statue of Liberty, from which his ancestors benefited as immigrants.”

They went on to say that they are “deeply concerned by the swing to the right, fed by fear” in the United States.

The added that they would rather see a focus on building human community across the globe.

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