WHATS WITH ALL THE FLAGS?

In a wedding sermon recently, I advised the couple “Discuss to learn, not to win”.

That means dealing with facts not just emotions, and “knee-jerk reactions”.

There is one topic that has risen gradually in the public agenda and is now, according to one poll, the top issue for voters – immigration.

It’s a particularly pertinent topic for us too since in a few weeks’ time we will welcome representatives of the Croydon Refugee Centre to tell us some more of the work done for those entering the country as refugees, as Croydon is and has been for many years a first stop, with a Home Office centre located here.

A recent article by Ian Paul * gave some perspectives on the overall issues surrounding the immigration debate, focusing particularly on the response the Archbishop of York gave to the newly announced policy of Reform UK to immigration.

I did not agree all that Ian said or the unusual tone adopted (for him) in this particular piece but it does provide some high level perspectives that were helpful.

This public debate is rife with misinformation and hyperbole, especially from those opposed to immigration in principle.
Here are some features of the issue:

• Net migration is now (2024-5) falling compared to highs of 2022-23
• Illegal immigration accounts for approximately 3% of all immigration
• UK percentage of foreign born residents is mid range for high income countries at 16%
• UK population has grown by 20% over the last 25 years almost all of which can be explained by annual net migration
• Public services have not kept pace with this population increase, especially during a time of austerity
• The vast majority (95% +) of annual immigration is legal and for work or study at University
• Migrant workers pay tax on wages they earn in UK
• Many visas are offered to those working in the public services including the NHS and the social care sector
• International students pay much higher fees than UK students and in some cases allowing Universities to remain financially viable
• Asylum seekers can neither work nor claim benefits and receive a very modest ( a few pounds) weekly allowance, reduced further if food is provided
• Asylum accommodation is usually neither spacious nor luxurious
• Claims that asylum seekers are more highly represented in crime statistics are not substantiated
• Those entering the UK illegally, eg in small boats, can apply for asylum but if no case can be made will be both deported and given no leave to return
• A refugee is an internationally recognised status as someone who would face harm, including potential death, if return to home country
• The asylum and immigration system is under severe pressure and recognised as being slow and inefficient in many cases, taking a very long time to decide cases

When I drove to Scotland a few weeks ago it was noticeable that almost every bridge on the M40 and M6 had a St Georges flag of England or a Union Jack on it facing each carriageway. Occasionally there would be another sign next to it that was unclear but seemed to indicate that it was something like “Make Britain Great Again” or a similar sentiment.

It was the weekend that a number of protests were planned outside so called “asylum hotels” in the wake of an incident, from which a conviction subsequently was confirmed by the courts, of a sexual assault committed by one asylum seeker.

The mood around the protests was ugly, and it was inflamed by local authorities taking central government to court (another sign of division).

Just this week there were reports on Sky news of the “Flaggers” movement where flags were appearing on lamp post (a criminal offence by the way, to attach anything public property without permission). To some interviewed it was welcomed as a sign of pride in the nation and in the national flag(s). To others it was a provocative signal of something more sinister. In the edited final film the organiser initially claimed that it was a “grass roots movement of the people”. By the end, he admitted to affiliations to a prominent right wing extreme nationalist political leader and that the flags had been supplied by this person.

It seems that a nationwide movement of patriotism is being orchestrated by groups with a particular extreme right-wing agenda, but that does not mean that all who support, engage with it, are either right wing or extreme. It is an irony that the adoption of both the English and Union flag by certain groups with an agenda of isolationism, racism and nationalism (underpinned with a willingness or desire for division and violence) have tainted for many the very emblem that they seek to uphold.

There is nothing wrong with patriotism or pride in ones nation. We should not automatically assume motives of those who choose to display it.
I am a Scot. We know pride in the flag(s) (Saltire and Lion rampant) and a sense of “home” being in the heart.

But there is an ugly undercurrent in the public debate at the moment which can only be truly addressed by facts and nuance. By looking at the good and the bad and naming them for what they are. The true and the false.

So how should we respond?

I was challenged by Ian Paul’s main critique of the Archbishop’s response. At the macro level, there is a policy issue to address in terms of skills, labour markets , training, industrial policy, tax and spend – across the board. These are also international policy issues because they speak to the movement of people across borders not just here but between all nations.

There have also been huge upheavals in many nations – Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria to name just three in the last few years. These have led to mass movement of millions of people. There are also economic reasons for movement of people between nations.

All these need to be addressed and all of us can become more informed about what these pressures are and see this as a wider set of policies than just the immigration statistics, which are a symptom of the wider policy approach.

But at the micro level – this is where the Gospel speaks loudest.

The person next to you who started their journey is an “alien”. That biblical word means they come from a different nation. They have a story. And we are called to love them, to serve them and to be hospitable to them.

This is not inconsistent with a desire to get the big picture sorted.

If you are someone who wants to be proud of your nation and fly the flag. That is great. Use your influence at the ballot box and in debate to encourage policies that will enhance both economic, social, education, industrial and international policy towards coherent prosperous and peaceful living. And that could mean continued reductions in immigration as one of those policies.

But when we welcome the alien – the stranger – the one from a nation other than our own, especially if their story is one of hardship and fear and danger – our response needs to be one of compassion, hospitality and love.

“Open your mouth for those with no voice, for the cause of all the dispossessed.  Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the poor and needy.” (Proverbs 31:8-9)

Here is a another thought though. This proverb applies to all. Including the dispossessed, poor and needy who call the UK their home nation.

The prevailing narrative of some in the public debate is to set the citizens of the UK against those who have arrived from elsewhere.

“Us” and “them”.

But on the micro level the Gospel is “love one another so that they will know that you are my disciples”. The hated Samaritan, who was a “foreigner” in the parable, is not only exalted for seeing the injured man as his neighbour because he was exactly that – a foreigner. Not “one of us” to his Jewish audience. But he also had compassion because he was proximate, alongside him, and he could not walk on by (whoever he was).

³⁶Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ ³⁷He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’ (Luke 10:36-37)

The Old Testament imperative towards justice, mercy and humility before God applies to our dealings with all of his creation, wherever they were born or however we come across them.

Let us do likewise with humility, love and discernment. And continue to champion the cause of compassion and to call out inappropriate behaviour and nuance our part in the debate with the love of Christ in our hearts.

Every blessing

Doug

Vicar@christchurchpurley.org.uk
 
* https://www.psephizo.com/life-ministry/is-the-archbishop-of-york-right-about-migration/
 https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/long-term-international-migration-flows-to-and-from-the-uk/


HOLY TRIANGLE?