Politics again took centre stage at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland yesterday as members called for action from Westminster on immigration, the Middle East and gambling.
A report from the church and society council targeted the way in which society "routinely confronts migrants".
It criticised the UK Government and urged members to support the view that it is "unacceptable to use destitution as a tool to persuade people to leave this country".
The report continued: "Government policy is to use the carrot and stick approach of making rejected asylum seekers destitute while offering very basic support.
"In churches there has been a groundswell of support for a campaign to change the root causes of the destitution of people seeking asylum in the UK."
Those involved in the campaign are convinced that "the government will eventually recognise that it is inhumane to make refused asylum seekers destitute".
Members heard an appeal to the UK Government to do "all in its power" to prevent foreign military intervention in Iran, as they reaffirmed their stance on disarmament.
The assembly heard that the prospect of US military action against Iran, or a pre-emptive strike by Israel, "are solutions that could prove worse than the original problem in terms of regional instability and loss of life in the Middle East".
It claimed the position of the UK Government amounted to "gross hypocrisy".
A call by Rev Mark Nicholas of Gorebridge to condemn Iran's moves to secure nuclear capabilities was rejected.
The Very Rev Alan McDonald of St Andrews St Leonards described it as "preposterous" that the UK should condemn others' arsenal while holding its own nuclear weapons.
The assembly was presented with a report on betting which showed that 68% of people had taken part in gambling in the last year. The most popular was the National Lottery with 57% of people interviewed having taken part.
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