Asylum Seekers and Refugees: Scriptural, Theological and Ethical Approaches

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1 Asylum Seekers and Refugees: Scriptural, Theological and Ethical Approaches Pre-Synod and Synod Reflection Studies Session Two What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt?: Coping with change Parish and Other Mission Agencies Commission Diocesan Social Responsibilities Committee

2 2 Opening Prayer God, you are the source of human dignity, and it is in your image that we are created. Pour out on us the Spirit of love and compassion. Enable us to reverence each person, to reach out to those in need, to value and appreciate those who differ from us, to share the resources of our nation, to receive the gifts offered to us by people from other cultures. Grant us the voice and courage to speak out against injustice, stand up for the oppressed, and embrace the marginalised. Help us to remember that we are all one in the Body of Christ. Amen Beginning to talk The group may like to begin by sharing some of the reflections brought from your deanery groups about what makes it challenging to talk about refugees and asylum seekers. You might like to note some of the common challenges that people in the group share. Story and context We hear much in media coverage of refugee stories about the events which cause people to leave their homelands but also the factors which might make them choose to stay. These are often referred to as push and pull factors. In reality we are all subject to push and pull factors when it comes to change, even changing our opinions about something. Our comfort zone Copyright IRIN All rights reserved what we are most familiar with is hard to leave even when we know it is no longer good for us. For many people real change happens when the pain of leaving or trying something new is less than the pain of remaining where we are. Asylum Seekers and Refugees: Scriptural, Theological and Ethical Approaches

3 3 Telling the story: Najeeba Wazefadost Najeeba Wazefadost is an Afghan refugee who arrived in Australia by boat in 2000, aged 12. There is no simple answer to racism. It s all about creating relationships and having conversations. Every person has to have that conversation with one another, and the problems will be reduced and there will be more harmony. If we do not interact with each other, if we do not hear each other s voice, if we do not hear each other s pain or problems, we will always have questions being unanswered and that will create problems. I ve come across a lot of amazing Australians who have helped me and my family settle in Australia and open a fresh life, a new life. Today, where I am, I thank those Australians. I personally myself have not faced any racism or any discrimination or anything that has hurt me. I ve been welcomed, I ve been loved, and that s because they were hearing me. They gave me the chance to share my story. I ve come across some Australians who initially have had a negative image about boat people coming to Australia saying they re queue jumpers or they re taking the jobs away from other people, things like that. I think it was through a civil conversation that I was able to clear that assumption they were having and we were able to build a good rapport with each other. Photo: I have been able to make many friends because we both respected each other regardless of race, religion, culture. And we gave each other a chance to be heard. They heard my story, and I heard their negative comments. Sometimes we need to hear what negative things people are thinking, or assuming, in order to show the other side and get rid of any negatives that are there. In the first few years when I came to Australia, I always used to say it s me, me, me. I came to Australia by boat, I wasn t welcomed into Australia, my dreams were shattered, what I went through in the detention centre was seriously unfair. But then I thought hold on for a minute, let s put you in an Australian person s shoes. If I was Australian, with a life where I wasn t Session Two: What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt?: Coping with Change

4 4 exposed to war and I didn t know what a refugee was, how would I react? Then I realised, it s not about me, it s about us. I should give people the chance to share their views without becoming angry. And then they will give me the chance to share my story and the problems will be slowly resolved. The problem is when people don t get a chance to be heard. I was able to express to them how many asylum seekers carry a lot of sorrow and stress and they depend on human sympathy. And then they became more sympathetic to asylum seekers and refugees. (ABC News Online, 22 June 2012, Push v pull: The morality of offshore processing Photo: There is a bitter irony to the idea that sending asylum seekers to Malaysia or to the desert hellhole of Nauru is a moral obligation. That is not to dismiss the moral urgency behind calls to do so. Seeing footage of children drowning or hearing of body counts in the dozens is horrific. It has led many people who genuinely support humane refugee policy to question their position to wonder whether any alternative is better than the current situation. Understandable as those doubts are, the argument that we must take strong deterrent action to save lives, no matter the human cost, is fundamentally problematic and ethically flawed. The ethical argument for offshore processing assumes it will be a successful deterrent. That is far from proven. It is true that there has been a recent spike in boat arrivals. Nonetheless, there is a broad consensus amongst scholars and refugee organisations that so called push factors are far more important than pull factors in explaining refugee movements. The current debate has ignored the relatively low deterrent value of our domestic policy. But in fact it is not surprising. The whole logic of deterrence involves making a particular option so unbearable that the alternative becomes more desirable. For an individual fleeing persecution an individual ready to risk their life at sea it is doubtful that any Australian processing scheme will be the most unbearable option. If it was, Asylum Seekers and Refugees: Scriptural, Theological and Ethical Approaches

5 5 that would constitute the strongest moral condemnation of this country possible. This logic applies particularly in the case of offshore processing in Nauru, which is most likely to lead to eventual resettlement. In fact, almost all asylum seekers held on Nauru under the Pacific Solution were resettled in Australia or New Zealand, or have returned voluntarily. However, let s assume that offshore processing does work as a deterrent. The evidence on pull factors is not unequivocal and simply saying it does not work avoids grappling with the harder moral questions currently being debated. Working from that assumption, the ethics of offshore processing must depend on how it affects two groups of asylum seekers: those who will come anyway, and those who will be successfully deterred. (Sienna Merope, 5 July 2012, Right Now: Human Rights in Australia Bible Passage Exodus As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. But Moses said to the people, Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still. Then the Lord said to Moses, Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground. Then I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and so I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his chariot drivers. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained glory for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his chariot drivers. Session Two: What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt?: Coping with Change

6 6 Notes Although the Exodus from Egypt is read as a story of liberation, the written traditions indicate that the Israelites were not always happy to have been liberated. In the present passage, faced with the oncoming Egyptian army, they cry out and ask why they were not allowed to remain in relative safety in their enslaved condition. All they can see is that they might die in the wilderness instead of in Egypt. And although God brings them safely through the present threat it will not be the last time they voice this complaint. They ask if God brought them out into the wilderness to starve (Ex ), then they complain about the manna (Num ), the state of the Promised Land (Num ) and even about the length of the journey (Num ). Each time God brings them to safety and yet they are slow to learn how to trust. Discussion questions 1. Think about what it might have been like for the Israelites leaving what they knew to journey into strange territory. What sorts of fears, real and imagined, might have played on their minds as they set out? What about as the journey went on? 2. What do you think the Israelites learned about God from their Exodus? What might they have learned about themselves? 3. Try to imagine would-be refugees in the place of the Israelites as they journey into unknown and possibly dangerous territory. What push and pull factors might influence their decisions to risk a dangerous journey from home to a strange country? 4. Think about times when God has called you out of your comfort zone and into strange and fearful territory. How easily do you leave familiar places or relationships or even ways of thinking? What is it that makes you want to stay where you are, even when it might not be a safe or good place? Asylum Seekers and Refugees: Scriptural, Theological and Ethical Approaches

7 7 Further reflection Think for a few minutes about a time when you have been confronted about your own strongly held opinion and you have been led to a change of heart. You may like to share in pairs or small groups something about that change what finally made you able to look at things differently? What fears did you have to overcome? How do you feel about that experience now was it worth it? With the larger group, share from your conversation some ideas about what made change possible. You need not go into detail about your particular change of heart, just about what factors made the change possible for you. What have you heard today that has surprised you or prompted you to think differently about refugees and asylum seekers? Again in pairs or small groups share anything you have learned or changed your mind about. You need not record these reflections. Closing prayer God bless our eyes, that we may recognise injustice. God bless our ears, that we may hear the cry of the stranger. God bless our mouths, that we may speak words of welcome to newcomers. God bless our shoulders, that we may bear the weight of struggling for justice. God bless our hands, that we may work together with all people to establish peace. God bless our feet, that we may walk in the footsteps of Christ. God bless our hearts, that we may be transformed into witnesses of truth, justice and love. Amen (Opening and closing prayers from Resources for Refugee and Migrant Sunday, South Australian Council of Churches.) Session Two: What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt?: Coping with Change

8 Social Justice Prepared by The Reverend Gillian Moses with the Anglicare Social Justice research unit for the Parish and Other Mission Agencies Commission and the Diocesan Social Responsibilities Committee anglicaresq.org.au CSC2168