Churches imagine Mary and Joseph in the UK asylum system

A coalition of four churches has produced a video imagining the welcome Mary and Joseph would receive if they arrived in the UK seeking asylum.

A Very British Nativity has been produced by the Church of Scotland in collaboration with the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church.

The video shows Mary and Joseph struggling to get by in temporary accommodation, while the three wise men are taken in to custody by the police before they are able to deliver their gifts.

The film is released as the latest UK Government figures, for September, show Scotland had 3,245 asylum seekers who were receiving accommodation and/or financial support of less than £6 per day.

The Church of Scotland’s Rev Dr Richard Frazer said: “We have repeatedly called for a deeper generosity on the part of the UK Government in offering a welcome to refugees and asylum seekers. We have shown our own commitment by creating a Refugee Coordinator post to work in this area until at least 2020.

“We believe we should treat others as we wish to be treated ourselves and that human rights and human dignity are universal.

“We fear there is a ‘war against sanctuary’ which the UK Government is expressing through eroding legal rights for asylum seekers and threatening to penalise the children of people without appropriate documentation to discourage migration.”