Sham, 1 year old
Roszke/Horgos. In the very front, just alongside the border between Serbia and Hungary by the 4-meter-high iron gate, Sham is laying in his mother’s arms. Just a few decimeters behind them is the Europe they so desperately are trying to reach. Only one day before, the last refugees were allowed through and taken by train to Austria. But Sham and his mother arrived too late, along with thousands of other refugees who now wait outside the closed Hungarian border. Image from: http://darbarnensover.aftonbladet.se/chapter/english-version
After the attacks in Paris, the Governors of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Texas, and the Premier of Saskatchewan, are opposed to receiving Syrian refugees.
I haven’t been able to find out if the Premier of Saskatchewan is a man of any particular faith, but it’s reasonable to assume all those American Governors do profess to be Christian. To them I say:
31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Even if there are terrorists mingled among the refugees, what kind of country do we want to be? One that turns away thousands of innocents to be sure that not one terrorist gets in (at least, not through that particular process); or one willing to take the risk, to save literally thousands of lives? I know my answer. I stumbled across this tweet that sums it up perfectly:
I hate this idea that taking in Syrian refugees involves no danger. It does. But compassion demands boldness in the face of terror.
— Ferrett Steinmetz (@ferretthimself) November 16, 2015
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bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
12 comments
November 18, 2015 at 5:44 am
JJ Gibbons
According to Wikipedia he’s Christian – Mennonite Brethren. Geez … where’s his Mennonite compassion?
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November 18, 2015 at 6:29 am
sapeterson
I can’t believe he’s a Mennonite. As for the others If there is a hell there must be place waiting for them there.
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November 18, 2015 at 7:35 am
The Intransigent One
Heh, I must have skimmed Wikipedia too fast and missed that.
Also: I was raised MB and I can tell you where that Mennonite compassion went. Sometime in the 1990s, the denomination turned hard right and became just another bunch of conservative fundies – or at least that’s what happened in my church.
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November 18, 2015 at 8:12 am
tildeb
Homegrown terrorists are most often – get this – homegrown. A shocking revelation, I know.
People like Xristos Xatsiroubas, for example… middle class, public schooled, two parents, siblings, and a far cry from the trope of coming from a steaming pool of some disenfranchised angry young immigrant men. Islamic terrorism doesn’t come from refugees or even from angry young disenfranchised men; it comes from those who follow its ideology. And that can be anyone so inclined. One doesn’t even need to be raised as a Muslim to fall into actively supporting violent jihad promoted by all kinds of Islamist groups.
So the idea that some badly misguided politicians have about improving security by reducing immigration from Muslim populations demonstrates a significant lack of understanding about the source of the threat itself and shows the rest of us that such ‘leadership’ has no means to addressing it effectively because they do not have any real interest in understanding what the threat actually is, where it comes from, what it seeks to accomplish, how to then thwart exactly these aims.
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November 18, 2015 at 9:11 am
VRKaine
IO,
Great post, and I think for the most part, I agree in principle as it is along the same lines as freedom in general – with respect to those who have lost loved ones in Paris, that there’s always risks w/ the reward of freedom.
The issue for people like me is less around the charity issue and more around the ignorance of the government and Obama in particular re: ISIS and terrorism in general. There is no Al Qaeda, ISIS is a JV Team, ISIS is “contained”, Hillary lying about the cause of attacks, not responding to repeated requests for increased security, etc.. Obama trading 5 Taliban for a traitor who 6 Americans died for trying to rescue and yet leaving 4 Americans to continue to rot in jail while he hands $150b to Iran. All these things point to an Administration that is blinded by idealism when it comes to foreign policy, which renders them utterly incompetent when it comes to security and safety. Obama keeps trying to PC the problem away and it’s simply getting worse (while he’s claiming that it’s getting so much better). He’s trying to kick this can down the road and both rape and murder are happening under his watch because of it while his Administration works to simply appease his enemies.
Lastly re: refugees, saying that the refugees are vetted on the one hand and yet on the other admitting they have no clue who they are or what their backgrounds are, then dumping them on individual States without giving that state’s governor even a courtesy that they’re coming, or where.
So overall, the issue on our end is that the Administration doesn’t seem to have any regard for security or defense at all concerning this matter (or other matters), and that what’s being said is political double-speak to simply appease their electorate (which can be said for politicians on both sides of the issue.)
I still think the best idea is the creation of a safe zone inside Syria which also allows the men of that country the opportunity to fight (which they should be doing instead of fleeing), but regardless there should be a balance between charity and security on this which I believe both sides can come to an agreement on. If they dial down the election-time rhetoric on both sides, hopefully we’ll get there soon.
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November 18, 2015 at 9:29 am
VRKaine
Tildeb,
Although there’s a valid point made in there, I believe to take the approach that “we have bigger problems at home w/ homegrown terrorism” is one that’s far too dismissive and impractical.
Note that they just arrested eight ISIS members in Turkey posing as refugees and contrast it with the damage we’ve seen that one can do. Also, consider the frequency of attacks of these “homegrown” terrorists vs.ISIS and you see that ISIS is much more a threat at high ready than anything we have had from any natural born American in the last decade.
Consider also society’s big concern over safe air travel – how airliners get so much attention when attacked. It’s not homegrown terrorists that do that, it’s derkas, and yet Al Qaeda and ISIS both have made those attacks successfully.
The argument can’t be “let’s let in all these refugees who we know nothing about since homegrown terrorism is a bigger problem.” That thinking is currently allowing children to be raped and people to be killed. However, “Let’s let women and children starve because we don’t know if they have terrorist ties” isn’t the solution, either.
We have to apply equal if not more scrutiny to people coming from terrorism supporting countries as – at the very least – the government does here at home with right-wingers. That’s at least a start. Bring the women and children over (take the risk) and leave the men back in their country to fight and make something of it is what I think, but whichever way it goes hopefully a solution can be found soon. It’s in these worst times that our humanity still has to shine, otherwise we never really had it.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/620249/Eight-arrested-Istanbul-airport-amid-ISIS-fears
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November 18, 2015 at 9:53 am
The Intransigent One
“Derkas”, Vern?
wow.
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November 18, 2015 at 10:11 am
tildeb
I can’t speak to the US process, but because you mentioned Premier Walls’ concern I presumed you were speaking about the Canadian… so firstly I commented about violent jihad recruits from Canada (meaning known homegrown violent jihad terrorists who don’t parallel with a Muslim immigrant source) and secondly assumed you knew that our targeted refugees are family-based ones who will be well screened (as those from any other war-torn source) from their extended time spent in Turkish, Jordanian, and Lebanese UN camps. As you pointed out, the possibility of ‘smuggling’ in violent jihadists through this process is exceedingly low.
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November 18, 2015 at 10:23 am
VRKaine
Tildeb:
I think in support of both of our points – homegrown and immigrant ISIS supporters in the US including those brought in as refugees:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3322649/The-enemy-Nearly-SEVENTY-arrested-America-ISIS-plots-include-refugees-given-safe-haven-turned-terror.html
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November 18, 2015 at 11:02 am
tildeb
As I said, the violent jihadis in the West do not align with being refugees; they align with those who buy into the Islamist ideology no matter what their background may be. My point is that these leaders that target refugees as if they are the problem are wrong because they either don’t understand or won’t name the source: Islamism.
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November 18, 2015 at 7:09 pm
bob
VR still needs his Mommy.
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November 19, 2015 at 9:02 am
The Intransigent One
@ bob: not cool.
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