Tag: refugees
Look, Syria Is Still Happening
The war that started with protests-turned-violent in March 2011 enters its eighth year tomorrow. Its eighth year. Eight years is a long time. And it’s way longer when the threat of bombs, chemical weapons, kidnapping,...
Why the Church Has a Unique Role in Responding to Refugeeism
For thousands of years the people of God have been part of the ever-unfolding story of exiles and migrants in the world. We have been refugees, refugee-makers, and sources of refuge. This is no less...
Refuge and Refugees in Church History
The Bible is a book from and for refugees. The Israelites were not at home in Egypt or Canaan. The Church of Acts suffered the persecution of kings as today it suffers that of caliphs....
Who Is a Refugee?
For the sake of clarity in an unbelieving world, we might point to the definition of “refugee” as put forth by the United Nations: Any person who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted...
Neither Slave Nor Free, Legal Resident Nor Refugee
When I hear Mara’s story–a story of intimidation that led to flight that led to poverty that led to a waning hope–I understand, but I cannot imagine. I listen, but I cannot relate. I can...
The Church and the Refugee
Hear my prayer, LORD, listen to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. I dwell with you as a foreigner, a stranger, as all my ancestors were. – Psalm 39:12 Isis...
Judges: ICE Can’t Deport 100 Christians to Indonesia (Yet)
This story is published in full at Christianity Today On February 1, a federal judge put a halt to the deportation of about 50 Indonesian Christians living in New Hampshire. The next day, a different...
The Church Is the Best First Responder
The powers and principalities of this world are what they are, and while they can certainly be reformed, we should not expect they can be fully redeemed at this stage of the gospel narrative. As...
An Inadequate Response to the Refugee Crisis
The United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) is the world’s leading agency for the monitoring and care of uprooted people. In the year 2000, its total population of concern—refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and...
Refugees Are People, Not Data
To line up all the blunt realities of refugeeism—the pertinent facts and numbers about displaced people, causes of death, crumbling economies, stateless persons, and overcrowded camps—and then fire them off in a single go, it...