{"id":31248,"date":"2017-02-03T15:40:06","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T22:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/?p=31248"},"modified":"2024-11-18T20:44:41","modified_gmt":"2024-11-19T03:44:41","slug":"did-obama-discriminate-against-christian-refugees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2017\/02\/did-obama-discriminate-against-christian-refugees\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Obama Discriminate Against Christian Refugees?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Photo<\/a>
Photo Source: Flickr Creative Commons by Harrison Staab https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/harrystaab\/<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

I have no first-hand knowledge of this. However, I have read repeatedly in publications which seek to support Christians who are subjected to discrimination, that President Obama\u2019s administration discriminated against Christians who were seeking asylum in this country.<\/p>\n

President Trump evidently repeated that charge in front of an Evangelical group. The BBC then shot back by saying that President Trump was wrong when he said that the Obama administration favored Muslim immigrants over Christians who were seeking asylum in this country.<\/p>\n

Now, Barnabas Aid has issued repeated demands that the BBC retract this statement, which they say is inaccurate.<\/p>\n

I have often cited Barnabas Aid in stories about Christian persecution. I have also read the same charges about discrimination against Christian refugees under President Obama from other sources. I always believed them, and, to be honest, I believe them now.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

From Barnabas Aid:<\/a><\/p>\n

Barnabas Aid has challenged the BBC to correct a wholly false claim made last Sunday on prime time TV news about Christian refugees in the USA. In an interview with a Christian TV network President Trump defended the executive order he issued on 27 January by saying that the policy was about prioritising religious minorities. When specifically asked if persecuted Christians would be a priority he replied:<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, they have been horribly treated. Do you know if you were a Christian in Syria it was impossible, at least very, very tough to get into the United States. If you were a Muslim you could come in, but if you were a Christian it was almost impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BBC<\/a>
BBC office
\nCC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Christine Matthews<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Sunday evening at the start of the 10pm television news, the BBC broadcast the following comment on this by their New York correspondent, Nick Bryant:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn an interview with an evangelical television network\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>[President Trump]\u00a0claimed without any factual basis the old Obama policy favoured Muslims over Christians\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>(emphasis added).<\/p>\n

A few minutes later the BBC also posted online a\u00a0video<\/a>\u00a0of the actual statement they had claimed was \u201cwithout any factual basis\u201d. This sweeping assertion broadcast by the BBC was not only wholly untrue, it was also potentially damaging to tens of thousands of Syrian Christian refugees.<\/p>\n

Barnabas Aid<\/a>\u00a0has for many months been highlighting the massive institutional discrimination faced by Syrian Christian refugees \u2013 with only one half of one percent of Syrian refugees resettled in the USA last year being Christians. This is despite them constituting up to 10% of the pre-war population and US Secretary of State John Kerry declaring in March that they were facing genocide.<\/p>\n

It is not just Barnabas Aid that has been saying this. For nearly a year major US news networks such as\u00a0Fox News<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0CNS<\/a>\u00a0have also reported it. The simple fact is that of 10,801 Syrian refugees admitted to the USA last year only 56 were Christians (there were also only 20 Shi\u2019a and 17 Yazidis \u2013 the other two groups that John Kerry said were facing genocide), while 99% were Sunni Muslims. A 30 second google search by the BBC would have revealed this.<\/p>\n

There have been claims that the previous administration could not have been discriminating against Christians as the total numbers of Christian (44%) and Muslim refugees (46%) admitted to the USA were similar. However, this is a misuse of statistics because these totals primarily reflect which countries have crises causing refugee movements. It is therefore almost impossible, using that kind of raw data, to say anything meaningful about whether Christians\/Muslims are being discriminated against. However, where Christians are BOTH being specifically targeted as they are in Syria AND very significantly underrepresented in the number given entry to the USA then it is almost certain that they are facing significant discrimination.\u00a0 It can be taken for granted that Syrian Christians are not averse to resettling in the USA, which is a number one goal for so many refugees and already has a large Arab Christian population which would make the newcomers feel at home.<\/p>\n

Whatever one thinks of President Trump, it was wholly wrong for the BBC to make the sweeping claim that suggesting the previous administration\u2019s policy disadvantaged Christians was \u201cwithout any factual basis\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have no first-hand knowledge of this. However, I have read repeatedly in publications which seek to support Christians who are subjected to discrimination, that President Obama\u2019s administration discriminated against Christians who were seeking asylum in this country. President Trump evidently repeated that charge in front of an Evangelical group. The BBC then shot back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1155,"featured_media":28275,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-persecution-2","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nDid Obama Discriminate Against Christian Refugees?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I have no first-hand knowledge of this. 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