Relations between Australia's churches and the country's federal government have reached a new low over Prime Minister John Howard's refusal to participate in or acknowledge the national "Sorry Day," held to apologize to Aboriginal people who were taken from their families as children.
Leading church people were some of the main organizers of the Sorry Day, which was May 26. The event was organized to mark the first anniversary of the publication of an official report criticizing a long-standing policy, which lasted until the 1960s, of removing Aboriginal children from their families. The government and major church agencies were deeply involved in the policy, which the report, by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, described as an attempt at "genocide."Prime Minister Howard has offered a personal apology but has refused to apologize on behalf of the government.