[From a Baptist pastors' list I subscribe to):

Colin has, in his customarily irenic way, said what I would have said on this.

However, there are two dimensions of the asylum-seeker debate which I don't think we've touched adequately:

1. In a forum like the Baptist Union Assembly meetings, some people are disadvantaged. These include, of course, those who feel a motion has been 'sprung on them' about which they'd have preferred more time for reflection. This was mentioned by a couple of our colleagues. But some have not had the opportunity to do the compassionate and/or theological work associated with coming to a mature conviction on such a complex issue. Their 'gut reaction' is to feel threatened by those with a more theologically-sophisticated approach - or who may be more verbal in such a context. Or who, they judge, might have a more 'liberal' approach to faith and life. And of course our rural friends are disadvantaged by time and distance and in other ways...

2. Another - and possibly more serious issue - is the complex relationship between theology, social theory and 'realpolitik'. It's nice to be compassionate - or critical - from a distance, but how do we prevent in Australia what is happening in English or French cities where angry young unemployed men from the 'colonies' riot and burn cars? How can we avoid the serious inter-ethnic conflicts we hear about every night on the TV news - in Western India, Fiji, Chechnya, West Africa, the former Yugoslavia, southern Philippines... the list goes on and on... And when we hear of Saudi-financed schemes for Islam to 'take over the West from within' we can't dismiss these news stories lightly. We may be critical of an uninformed 'redneck' response to these complexities, but our job as leaders/teachers is to help others understand them better. I think we have a long way to go here...

All that said, our family is involved with helping asylum-seekers on several levels. We are trying to raise money for some East Timor refugees to have their applications for residency in Australia processed more speedily. And our daugher Lindy (with UNOH at Springvale) is also organizing help for some African asylum-seekers, three of them with families back in central African countries.

I'm not sure I have any final answers to all this, but let's keep talking - irenically :-)!

Rowland Croucher

May 22, 2002.