Articles - From the Vicar

October 2000

During August I was lucky enough to spend some time on holiday in continental Europe with my family: the weather was hot, the camp sites were excellent and we all returned feeling thoroughly rejuvenated. As in previous years, I was struck by the ease with which one can now cross international frontiers within the European Union. Borders are no longer the physical barriers they once (sometimes literally) were; instead they are simply a line on the road and a reminder of the way in which countries' populations and political systems have matured beyond the territorial pre-occupations that made Europe such a battleground in previous centuries. Moreover, whatever the British press might have us believe, we saw no evidence of any particular country losing its national identity. Pride in local cuisine and traditions was much in evidence, not only in France and Germany but even in that most 'european' of countries, Luxembourg.

Of course there is a price that others pay for the open borders within the European Union: if you live outside the EU it is increasingly difficult to enter legally. Asylum and immigration legislation is being drawn up ever more tightly by EU countries, our own included, and (unsurprisingly) would-be immigrants are becoming more and more desperate. Others more qualified to comment than I am suggest that, on economic grounds alone, harsh immigration policies are shortsighted since they deprive mature economies of a potentially highly motivated source of fresh labour. But for Christians a 'Fortress Europe' mentality is, or should be, morally and theologically repugnant as well: it does not accord with the biblical theme of welcome and hospitality for the stranger and the alien or with the great vision in Revelation of the countless number 'from every race, tribe, nation and language' who stand before the throne of God (Revelation 9.1). In opposing current and proposed asylum and immigration restrictions throughout the European Union, Christians are witnessing to the truth of a gospel that knows no frontiers - either internal or external.