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Click here for Faith-Based Resources for You
Click here to go back to the Main Featured Issues page Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. [Hebrews 13: 1] The stranger is no stranger in Scripture: At least 36 times, the Hebrew Bible commands justice and love of the stranger. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. [Deuteronomy 10:18] Perhaps this command to love the stranger is repeated more than any other because loving the stranger is necessary, but sometimes really hard, when we have our own needs and concerns to worry about, too. The New Testament and Qu'ran are clear, too: Perhaps it is no coincidence that this passage is one of the most famous in the New Testament: I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me. [Matthew 25] The Qu'ran says it is an act of righteousness to give money to “Ibn Al-Sabil”, a wayfarer. Worship Allah and associate nothing with Him, and to parents do good, and to relatives, orphans, the needy, the near neighbor, the neighbor farther away, the companion at your side, the traveler… [An-Nisaa’ 4:36] We are also instructed to not oppress: When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. [Leviticus 19:33-34]. Do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another. [Zechariah 7:10.] The one who denies a wayfarer his surplus water is one of three persons at whom God will not look on the Day of Judgment, according to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). |
Photo: Rabbi Ari Hart
Dr. Ido Avivi of IsraAID, takes care of a refugee with a combination of hypothermia and shock. As Syrian refugees arrived by small boat to the Greek Island of Lesvos, American rabbi, Ari Hart, was there to bear witness, and to help.
Photo: Rabbi Ari Hart
This elderly woman came across with a wheelchair. The smugglers placed her in the middle of the boat and folded the wheelchair at the back. She sat in the boat for several hours unable to move, soaked. We lifted her and the wheelchair out of the boat and placed her in. Not sure how she'll make the miles and miles of walking she may have to do. - Rabbi Ari Hart
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So much is happening this month around migrants and refugees, we've dedicated September to helping you engage, share resources, tune in and attend:
September 15 – 23, 2016: Scores of faith-based gatherings (see box below) focus on the global refugee crisis will center around these two historic convenings: September 19, 2016: UN General Assembly High-Level Summit on Refugees and Migrants: For the first time, the General Assembly has gathered the highest-level government representatives, including heads of state, to come up with a blueprint for a more humane and coordinated international response to the refugee and migrant crisis, too big for any one country to handle. This watershed moment seeks to strengthen governance of international migration and create a more responsible, predictable and durable system to respond to large movements of refugees and migrants. September 20, 2016: Leaders' Summit on Refugees hosted by President Obama: Co-hosted by Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Jordan, Mexico and Sweden, this summit will ask governments for significant new commitments: 1) Increase funding to humanitarian appeals and international organizations, 2) Admit more refugees through resettlement or other legal pathways, 3) Increase refugees’ self-reliance and inclusion through education and legal work opportunities. |
PARTICIPATE AND LEARN MORE
- Click here for a list of the faith-based events.
- Here's how to register for the UNGA summit.
- The Summit will be webcast live on webtv.un.org.
- The summit’s schedule and speakers: https://refugeesmigrants.un.org/summit
- Good background material: http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/united-nations-summit-for-refugees-and-migrants.html
- Helpful overview of the U.S. State Department's refugee work in 2016: http://www.state.gov/p/io/c71574.htm
- Childhood Interrupted: Lost Years for the Children of the Syrian Refugee Crisis by Lutheran and Refugee Service
We Spotlight some of the dedicated leaders of faith and moral courage who are working with refugees, engaging their congregations and communities and inspiring others to open their hearts:
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If Not Now, When?
By Rabbi Ari Hart Rabbi Hart spent traveled to Lesvos, Greece to pull refugees from boats as they came toward shore. One of them was about the same age as his grandmother. Paradise, Disturbed: The Torah on Strangers By Rabbi Ari Hart Judaism is a religion of obligation—of trying to actualize commands, what we call mitzvot, that bind us to God and bring God's presence into this world. |
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My States of Living: An Immigrant Speaks
By Nadia Alawa Our United States continues to offer opportunities and a home to its tired, its poor, to the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. We are a nation of immigrants. |
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What I Witnessed in Berlin Last Week
By Rabbi Jason Nevarez Rabbi Nevarez recently returned from what used to be a City Hall on the outskirts of Berlin, now home to 1,200 refugees sharing 60 toilets and 30 showers. |
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Refugee Policies for the Common Good
By Carlos Campo We will be a richer nation in every sense of the word if we treat those who are here with justice and mercy. |
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Calvin's Refugees: Remembering Christ as Fugitive
By Julie Canlis The influx of refugees today is both threat and opportunity, but for Christians in North America in particular, the greater threat is that we forget the context from which we came. |
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Refugee Distress: Do We Think We're Immune to Suffering?
By Victor Carmona Many in our Hispanic communities are wondering how to remain faithful and hopeful when so many of our country's leaders toy with immigration issues for political gain. |
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Turning Enemies Into Friends: Immigrants and Refugees
By Richard Cizik Who really is a hero? It is the person who turns his enemy into a friend. The one who builds bridges of understanding and compassion. And loves the refugee and immigrant. |
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Hospitality for the Stranger
By Yvonne Aburrow Every ancient pagan culture had very strong traditions of hospitality. |
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The Use and Abuse of the Bible in the Immigration Debate
By James K. Hoffmeier The problem is that many make a simplistic correlation between the ancient Israelite social law and the modern situation as if the Bible was addressing the same problem. |
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Humanism and the "Other"
By Dale McGowan Two values that animate humanists above all others are the value of rational responses over emotional ones and the rejection of every form of tribalism. |
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Refugees and the Right to Basic Goods
By Germain McKenzie We should see human beings as ends and never as means. The right thing to do with refugees and immigrants should not to be determined by any cost/benefit analysis. |
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Affirming Life by Affirming the Stranger in Our Midst
By Sharon Miller, PhD. We have been given an unprecedented opportunity to be generous and humane. Let us seize the moment and affirm life. |
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Entangled Injustices: Refugees, Water, Human Trafficking
By Cameron Trimble and Susan Barnett Migrants and refugees are at exceptional risk; their legal status, losses, and living situations leave them particularly vulnerable to those who promise safe passage to hope and a better life. |
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The Tears of Refugees
By Rosemarie Milazzo, M.M. A Maryknoll Sister shares her recent experience volunteering with a peace team among people displaced by violence. |
When it comes to immigration, diverse faith voices are loud and clear!
Click on each link to see where they stand:
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration
National Association for Evangelicals, President Leith Anderson
World Vision, President Richard Stearns
Church World Service, President and CEO Rev. John L. McCullough
Jesuit Refugee Service, USA Director for Policy Mitzi Schroeder
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Vice President for Programs Michael Mitchell
World Relief, President and CEO Stephan Bauman
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Coalition of 81 Refugee and Immigrant Law Experts; Humanitarian Aid Organizations; and Faith, Labor, and Civil and Human Rights Groups
National Association for Evangelicals, President Leith Anderson
World Vision, President Richard Stearns
Church World Service, President and CEO Rev. John L. McCullough
Jesuit Refugee Service, USA Director for Policy Mitzi Schroeder
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Vice President for Programs Michael Mitchell
World Relief, President and CEO Stephan Bauman
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Coalition of 81 Refugee and Immigrant Law Experts; Humanitarian Aid Organizations; and Faith, Labor, and Civil and Human Rights Groups
A SPECIAL NOTE TO OUR
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