A coalition of Alabama leaders from the Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths submitted a letter to Alabama Governor Robert Bentley on Monday, urging him to reconsider his position Syrian refugees.
In mid-November, Bentley became the second governor in the country to announce that his administration would refuse Syrian refugees slated to be relocated to his state.
“After full consideration of this weekend’s attacks of terror on innocent citizens in Paris, I will oppose any attempt to relocate Syrian refugees to Alabama through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program,” Bentley said at the time. “As your Governor, I will not stand complicit to a policy that places the citizens of Alabama in harm’s way.”
Roughly 30 other states followed Bentley’s lead, resulting in a tense back-and-forth between state leaders and the White House as the Obama Administration said states did not have the legal authority to refuse refugees admitted by the federal government.
Congress funded the Refugee Resettlement Program in the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill passed last week, but it remains unclear whether any refugees will be housed in Alabama. Catholic Social Services in Mobile is currently the only organization approved to receive them, but the organization has not signaled that any are currently on the way.
Arguments against accepting refugees at this time have predominantly revolved around security concerns with the vetting process. Refugee proponents say America should remain open out of a moral obligation to oppressed individuals around the world. Some commentators have also tried to make the case that Christian conservatives who are concerned about refugee vetting are being hypocritical.
This refusing to offer refuge to fleeing Syrians reminds me of a story, something about a pregnant couple and innkeepers w/ no room? Anyone?
— Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) November 17, 2015
if only we had a seasonally appropriate story about middle eastern people seeking refuge being turned away by the heartless
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) November 16, 2015
The group of faith leaders appealing to Governor Bentley on Monday appear to be making a similar argument.
“Alabama faith leaders call on you to recant your statements seeking to bar Syrian refugees from our state,” they wrote. “Faith requires us — and you — to welcome the stranger, love our neighbor, and care for ‘the least of these.’ In this season where Christians remember the plight of Jesus and his family as political refugees, let it not be said that in Alabama, there was no room in the inn.”
The problem with this argument is that it is… well… flat out not accurate, which is perhaps surprising coming from a group of faith leaders, at least some of whom represent churches from various Christian denominations.
Luke 2 describes the circumstances that compelled Jesus’ mother and Earthly father to go to Bethlehem. Caesar Augustus had called for there to be a census, requiring everyone living under his rule to return to their hometown to be counted.
Verses 4 and 5 explains that “Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.”
Refugees are people who have been “forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.”
That is not the situation being described in Luke.
Hans Fiene, a Lutheran pastor, explains why the coalition of Alabama faith leaders’ depiction of Jesus’ family as refugees is wrong.
“While it’s true that refugees are people who, like Mary and Joseph, have moved from one geographical location to another at some point in their lives, those who merit the title ‘refugee’ must also have changed geographical locations in order to flee a war, some form of natural disaster, or a political leader who is persecuting them,” he said. “While Augustus’ decree of a census may certainly have inconvenienced Mary and Joseph, it didn’t rise to the level of persecution. Likewise, when they travelled to Bethlehem, Christ’s mother and earthly father weren’t fleeing from Caesar. They were obeying him. Therefore, to suggest that Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were persecution-fleeing refugees in Bethlehem is quite absurd, at least if one subscribes to the notion that you don’t get to change a word’s meaning just because doing so would make conservatives look like morons.”
The Syrian refugee situation is a humanitarian crisis, which is why I and many others have traveled to the Middle East to help. There are also reasonable arguments to be made on both sides regarding the United States’ policy toward refugees seeking to flee that part of the world.
Misrepresenting the story of Jesus’ birth isn’t one of them.
(Editor’s note: Here is the list of faith leaders who wrote the letter to Governor Bentley)
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