This month, Bishop Cyril Ashton writes:
Building a world house
An issue that is currently receiving a great deal of attention, especially because of a general
election looming on the horizon, is that of immigration. It may therefore be timely to do
some theological and historical reflection on the subject.
Martin Luther King believed in a vision of a World House. “Unless people live together as
brothers and sisters, we will perish together as fools”.
At least theoretically the UK is a world house. If we go back far enough almost everyone in
Britain may be seen to have their origins elsewhere. We are in truth a nation of immigrants
able to trace our roots throughout Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the
Caribbean. In the past immigrant groups came to invade our shores and seize land. The
Romans in the first century, the Norsemen and Vikings in the eighth and ninth century, and
then the Norman Conquest in the eleventh century. In addition we have always encouraged
mobility of population in and out of Great Britain.
Essentially the UK is a peace-loving, inclusive, hospitable nation championing individual
human rights. At the heart of our legal, political, educational and religious traditions is an
emphasis on seeking and sustaining peace. Despite the current anxiety about the number of
immigrants and asylum seekers, hospitality is still at the heart of the British psyche.
An important reason for this is to do with the way our nation has been shaped by the Bible.
The Sermon on the Mount is a frequently quoted reference point for public and private
behaviour, and sets the scene for a society based on generosity, mercy and grace.
Hospitality is fundamental to Christianity. We are to practise it as a quality and skill to be
nurtured. The distinctive emphasis of Christian hospitality is that it offers generosity to those
who do not have the resources to return it. It is not a bribe tied to an advantage. It provides a
place for strangers and refugees. It honours the poor and dispossessed giving them life and
hope. The deeper reality is that human hospitality reflects God’s hospitality; we are to
welcome the refugee, the asylum seeker as God has welcomed us. It is emphatically not a
Christian view to resist the proper settlement of people of other nations within our shores.
Fascism, however it is expressed, is an evil to be abhorred.
Remember the words of Martin Luther King, may we give ourselves to building a world
house.
+Cyril
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| The Bishops’ Letter - March 2010 |
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