{"id":13654,"date":"2011-07-21T20:43:30","date_gmt":"2011-07-22T00:43:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/?p=13654"},"modified":"2011-07-21T20:43:30","modified_gmt":"2011-07-22T00:43:30","slug":"christian-refugee-denied-entry-to-canada-because-his-christianity-was-too-creedal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/christian-refugee-denied-entry-to-canada-because-his-christianity-was-too-creedal\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian refugee denied entry to Canada because his Christianity was too creedal"},"content":{"rendered":"

From here<\/a>:<\/p>\n

A Chinese migrant seeking refugee status in Canada on the grounds that he faced persecution back home for his Christian beliefs was repeatedly asked by the Immigration and Refugee Board last year to describe what Jesus was \u201clike as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man\u2019s inability to attribute human characteristics to Jesus formed part of the board\u2019s decision to deny his refugee claim.<\/p>\n

The details are contained in a recent Federal Court ruling, which dismissed the man\u2019s application for a judicial review of the board\u2019s decision but did agree that the board\u2019s line of questioning about Jesus was \u201csomewhat awkward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wu Xin Wang came to Canada in April 2007 on a temporary work permit and made his claim for refugee protection in January 2008.<\/p>\n

In documents filed with the immigration board, he claimed that he had received a call from his wife in China, who told him that officials from China\u2019s Public Security Bureau had visited their home and were investigating illegal church activities.<\/p>\n

Prior to his move to Canada, Mr. Wang said, he had been a member of an underground Christian church and sometimes acted as a lookout during church services.<\/p>\n

In assessing Mr. Wang\u2019s refugee claim, board adjudicator Daniel McSweeney asked Mr. Wang: \u201cSo tell me about Jesus as a person. What was he like?<\/p>\n

\u201cJesus is son of God,\u201d Mr. Wang said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not asking who he was or what he did. I am asking what is he like as a person,\u201d Mr. McSweeney said.<\/p>\n

\u201cJesus was conceived through the holy ghost and was born in this world,\u201d Mr. Wang replied.<\/p>\n

The answer did not satisfy the board member. \u201cAnybody could memorize a creed and recite the creed. I want to know what you believe and what you know of Jesus as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my heart he is my saviour,\u201d Mr. Wang answered.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is not . . . again, tell me what Jesus is as a person and this is the last time I am going to ask you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am sorry I really do not know how to answer.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Obviously Mr.Wang was too definitively certain about his beliefs, and naively expected that someone whose faith smacks so much of authentic Christianity could convince immigration authorities that he adhered to the same religion as that merchandised by mainline denominations. He should have told the board that Jesus was a loving, non-judgemental, inclusive human (avoid the word man<\/em> at all costs), not the only way to God, but one of many diverse paths, all equally valid.<\/p>\n

That would have got him in.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From here: A Chinese migrant seeking refugee status in Canada on the grounds that he faced persecution back home for his Christian beliefs was repeatedly asked by the Immigration and Refugee Board last year to describe what Jesus was \u201clike … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[884,1115,2237],"class_list":["post-13654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","tag-immigration-and-refugee-board","tag-mr-wang","tag-refugees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13654\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}