01.29.2017 08:55 AM

Jesus was a refugee

In the past year or so, in this space, nothing has enraged the so-called “Christian Right” more than my suggestion that Jesus Christ was a refugee

It rendered them apoplectic. It enraged them. Some days, I spent lots of time blocking these “Christian” trolls who would go on to vote for Trump. 

Trump, who is the closest thing we’ve had to an anti-Christ in my lifetime. Trump, who is the literal antithesis of Christian philosophy. 

Anyway. After the week we had – and this being a Sunday – I want to reassert that view. Namely: Jesus of Nazareth was truly a refugee

The unstoppable force of refugees fleeing to Europe has in various places hit the immovable object of an attitude that there is no room at the inn. Spaces are filled. Migrants should be kept out, in order to preserve jobs, health and welfare services. In an environment of austerity, where economic cuts have hit people hard, this cold-heartedness in part derives from a deep sense of insecurity.

At this time it is worth remembering that Jesus of Nazareth is in the Bible presented exactly as one that would be rejected by such European countries: a refugee child.

The reason these “Christians” so vehemently oppose the notion that Christ was a refugee?

Because they’re not really Christians. 

9 Comments

  1. Michael Bussiere says:

    Furthermore, Christian charity requires courage and is not avoidable just because there may be a personal risk involved. Those who gave sanctuary to Jews from the Nazis did so at great personal risk. Trump’s America has forever forfeited the right it assumes to refer to itself as a Christian nation.

  2. Brace Ourselves says:

    Thanks Warren. Well said. And, you can describe me as a “centre-right” voter.

  3. Ray says:

    Refugee? Well that certainly doesn’t fit with the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, fair-skinned, English-speaking Jesus that I grew up with.

  4. Bill Templeman says:

    I bailed on the United Church of Canada at age 12 when given the choice, lo these decades ago and have not been back. These are the descriptors I remember from my early spiritual education in this very mild strand of Protestant Christianity: Charity, Compassion, Forgiveness, and Service. What values did these angry ‘Christian trolls’ of yours receive from their spiritual education? How quaint and outdated the values I was taught seem today in this era of Trump & Leitch & O’Leary.

  5. Brace Ourselves says:

    A further comment. Just returned home from Church – we received an update on the progress of the Syrian refugee family we’ve sponsored the past year. The children are adapting almost seamlessly into the public school system and the parents are making good progress with language studies and jobs. The family is fitting in well with attending their local mosque. Of note, they were pleased to attend our Christmas service. A rhetorical comment, I know, but, who will be better off – we here in Canada or squalid fear-mongering from the U.S. leadership?

    It’s no longer absurd to wonder how long it will be before our U.S. friends become cautious of what they say in public….

  6. daveconstable says:

    I have never made the leap of faith, but it seems to me that if a person believes Christ to be God incarnate, then s/he can call herself or himself a Christian.
    I don’t see this basic changed by the morality or ethics that person practices.

    American one liner I like, though is this: ‘What all those Muslims should do is claim they are Christian. You know, like Republicans do.”

  7. Robert Frindt says:

    “Jesus Christ was a refugee.”

    Absolutely right. And after Herod died, Jesus and family went home.

    They didn’t stay in Egypt forever, demand special rights, align themselves with the most radical elements of Egyptian politics, and try to take over.

    BTW, the evangelical protestant definition of a Christian is one who has faith in Christ.

    Not adherence to some secular leftist immigration agenda.

    • Kelly says:

      The Evangelical Protestant definition of someone who’s goi g to he’ll is a hypocrite…you know like a Christian who pretends that Jesus didn’t say do unto others as you would have them do unto you . . . or… one of my favourites…And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micha 6:8

      Face it. Jesus was a communist.

  8. Miles Lunn says:

    Jesus was also Middle Eastern in appearance not white so he would probably be banned by Trump if he were alive today.

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