New Zealand to Immigrants: Send Me Your Gays, But Not Your Catholics

From LifeSite News for February 7, 2007:

New Zealand immigration officials are being accused of giving preferential treatment to homosexual refugees, after a Catholic Iranian man was denied asylum while another Iranian man who had previously been denied was accepted once he said he was gay.

Both men face a potential death penalty if they are forced to return to Iran.

The New Zealand Herald reported earlier today on accusations of hypocrisy from supporters of Thomas Yadegary, a Muslim who converted to Catholicism after moving to New Zealand in 1004.

Yadegary was arrested in November 2004 and has been held in custody without charge ever since. Yadegary’s application for refugee status was rejected by the immigration board, despite his plea that as a Muslim convert to Christianity he would face a potential death penalty if he returned to Iran. He has refused to sign the travel documents which would see him deported.

Immigration authorities accepted the refugee application of Iranian Ahmad Tahooni, however, despite his admission that he lied on an earlier application. Mr. Tahooni, 39, came to New Zealand in 2000 and requested asylum on the grounds that he had participated in student political demonstrations while in Iran, which could result in his persecution if he returned.

His application was denied by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority, and a following appeal was also denied once it became known that he had lied about participating in student demonstrations.

However, when he said he was gay and afraid of persecution for his homosexuality if he should return to Iran, his request for asylum was granted--homosexual activity could lead to a death penalty in Iran.

This is sad, though I can’t claim it’s surprising. I make a habit of praying for the conversion of Islam. Perhaps we should first begin by praying for the conversion of New Zealand.

Moslems, after all, are really Christian heretics - you can make a case that Islam is the ultimate consequence of Arianism (so says St. John of Damascus). And, since most Moslems don't actually knowingly embrace what they know to be false, they probably aren't guilty of the sin of heresy themselves.

On the other hand, I simply don't believe that the New Zealand Immigration Authorities don't know exactly what they are doing. One can't help but compare their decision to one by the Jerusalem Sanhedrin, along about A.D. 30 or so. It is one thing to do evil out of ignorance or weakness; it is another to do evil out of malice.