David Cameron, Prime Minister of UK
John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York of the Church of England has urged the British government and Prime Minister David Cameron that England must do more to help the persecuted religious minorities in the Iraq-Syria area. He urged Cameron that England must provide sanctuary for the Christians who are fleeing from the violence of the Islamic State.
The Telegraph reported that Sentamu had officially written to the Prime Minster concerning this matter, but had not yet received a reply. "In that letter I also raised the issue of asylum recognizing that the granting of asylum will not bring an end to the crisis but is a humanitarian act aimed at relieving suffering," Sentamu told the Telegraph. "I await a substantive reply. I raise this not to embarrass the Prime Minister, for whom I pray, but to urge him and his colleagues to act justly and swiftly in the face of suffering."
He explained that other countries including Germany, France and even Australia have already begun to provide protection and asylum for these fleeing Christians and that now it is England’s turn to do the same.
The Church of England had already made several statements that condemned the ISIS for their violent acts against the religious and ethnic minorities in the Middle East as well as their fight against the Iraqi and Syrian governments.
John Sentamu however, was not the first English minister to request the British government to do more concerning the ISIS. Another letter sent over a month ago written by Rt. Rev. David Walker the Bishop of Manchester, still remains unanswered. He described the ongoing silence of the government as “deafening”.
Although England has been offering a considerable amount of support for the Iraqi and Syrian supporters like the U.S. they have not yet decided to deploy their own troops into Iraqi territory to directly combat the ISIS. The Prime Minster David Cameron had this to say: "We are in the middle of a generational struggle against a poisonous and extremist ideology which I believe we will be fighting for the rest of my political lifetime, We face in ISIL a new threat that is single-minded, determined and unflinching in pursuit of its objectives."
