Aliens or neighbours, terrorists or refugees?

Once more there is sharp public debate about refugee and asylum seeker policy as news arrives of more people who have died. The political response to this issue is the usual rock throwing combined with expressions of sympathy worded to suggest that it is the fault of the other Party.

What fascinates me is that while options are discussed there is almost no exploration of the assumptions and the way in which refugees and asylum seekers are to be seen and valued. It is a reflection of the sort of world we live in where there is no space for a conversation about what we value and what we seek for human life; there is only space for issues and for technical solutions.

It is not that there are no values or ideologies; it is simply that they get hidden and assumed to be beyond discussion. In Australia the framework is terrorism and border security. What will protect our space; how can the government fulfill its major task – the protection of citizens?

I am sitting at my desk trying to write Christmas sermons and reflections. I know we are not quite to that part of the story, but I am forced to think about Mary and Joseph and Jesus fleeing to Egypt in the face of a murderous dictator.

I wonder what would happen to them today were they forced to flee the illegal settlers and the army who harass people in Galilee? I guess if they flew to Australia on holiday visa and stayed on (with many thousands of others) they might have a chance – at least a chance to be heard in a more reasonable climate than if they came on the boat with a tiny number of others.

I wonder why few people mention the fact that Australia is supposed to be bound by international law to accept and properly process people seeking asylum, even if we then send the unsuccessful people back home. Why do so few people think it strange that we believe it is moral to shove refugees off-shore, forcing other countries – with a fair bit of arm twisting – to deal with issues that belong to us as a nation? What happens when we see people as neighbours and strangers to be cared for, people who are actually loved by God? Why does the fact that we live in an economically, politically, and environmentally global community seem so contrary to the obsession with border protection without compassion?

Does it not mean anything to Christians that Jesus was born outside the town, had to flee to another country, and was killed outside the walls of the city? Refugee and asylum seeker.

Is Constitutional Reform already in trouble?

One of the earliest commitments of the present federal Government was to explore ways to change the Australian Constitution so that it is more inclusive of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. For the last year a Panel has been consulting right around Australia through face-to-face meetings and submissions. Public meetings have been held in 84 locations, and over 3500 submission were received.

All this feed-back has been subjected to comprehensive, independent analysis to see what level of support there is for various options for reform. That analysis has been considered by the Panel, and advice has been received from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders and constitutional law experts. Newspoll has conducted national polling and focus groups.

The Panel has consulted with the Government, Opposition, the Australian Greens and the Independents, each of whom has been constructive in their contribution.

The Panel will present its findings and recommendations to the Government in the week beginning 16 January 2012.

After all this work it is disappointing to see George Brandis, the shadow attorney-general publish an article in the Australian today which indicates what the Opposition will and will not accept, and speculating about what might be in the report.

What happens to the attempt to hear the voices of many ordinary Australians? To speculate adds to division not the reconciliation and justice needed in this country. It suggests an Opposition driven more by a pre-determined ideological position than a willingness to genuinely engage with the Australian community around this issue. Far better for them to let the process unfold and then to enter the debate in an informed manner, then this divisive sort of speculation.

A denial of fullness of life.

In John 10:10 Jesus says that he has come that people may have life, “and have it abundantly.” This has become for me a central beginning point for reflection on the shape of the Christian life. What does it mean to have abundant life or fullness of life? What does human well-being look like?

The Basis of Union of the Uniting Church affirms that “Jesus is head over all things, the beginning of a new creation, of a new humanity. God in Christ has given to all people in the Church the Holy Spirit as a pledge and foretaste of that coming reconciliation and renewal that is the end in view for the whole creation” (paragraph 3).

Reconciliation, renewal and abundant life; these sit at the heart of the desire of God and the nature of the church.

Last night I went to see a documentary in a theatre in Newcastle. It was the only public showing of the film “Our Generation,’ a viewing sponsored by the Wollotuka Centre at Newcastle University. The film explores the impact of Government policy, and particularly the Intervention, on the Aboriginal people of Eastern Arnhem Land.

This is the story of the denial of human well-being. It is a story of thinly veiled racism, and the continuation of assimilation policies hidden under fancy words. It is about the denial of the ability of Aboriginal people to exercise control over their own lives, and to be Aboriginal people rather than black reflections of European society. It is about the denial of the rights of Aboriginal people to be treated as citizens, with the race discrimination Act being suspended to allow the Intervention. It is about an attempt to steal people’s land, and broken promises and blackmail – do what we tell you or there is no money for basic things like housing and education. It is about multiple breaches of the UN statements on Indigenous rights which the Australian government says it believes in. It is about the denial of language and culture, and inappropriate and imposed solutions. It is about the continuation of Government policy that spends money on white advisors and managers and almost nothing on the people.

Buy a copy for yourself for Christmas. Buy a copy for your local Federal member. Take some friends to see your local member and tell her/him to end the Intervention immediately and consult in a genuine way with Aboriginal people.

Running up against the edges

There are many moments in the Uniting Church’s sexuality debate that I remember with real clarity. Some I remember with humility and deep joy as I found myself pushed out of my old comfort zones, and others I remember with shame as I watched faithful followers of Jesus insulted and treated like crap.

There is one moment I remember as if it was few moments ago. I can still see the colour and tones, the voices and the people. It was in Melbourne. The Assembly was immersed in the debate about sexuality and leadership. The Congress leadership was deeply concerned that its voice was not being heard, and spoke of the need to respect the covenant that existed between Congress and the rest of the Church. They asked the Assembly not to do anything against the wishes of Congress members.

Somewhere in that ongoing debate I suggested that the primary covenant at stake was baptism and what it meant for membership and ministry. Any other covenant had to be shaped by that one.

It’s the next bit I remember so well. As we stood around at lunch time my Congress friends really gave me a hard time. They told me I understood almost nothing, and needed to go with the old people and be taught again about covenant. That was a painful time, a time of running up against the edges of my faith and commitments. I thought I had already worked out what baptism meant, but needed to learn some more.

I confess that I feel like I am in the same spot at the moment around the issue of marriage and gay and lesbian people. I feel like I am in a very uncomfortable, abrasive place. I keep thinking the issue is simple: marriage is by definition about a man and a woman. And yet I know that I have friends who are the equivalent of the ‘old people,’ who want to teach me something else about marriage and definitions. I keep feeling that I need to rub up against the edges of where I sit. I keep wondering why I sit where I do, and why on this issue I am in an odd place. Why are my edges where they are? I feel like I am betraying friends, and wonder why on this issue that is a risk. Why are some voices so hard to hear on this issue; why is tradition so strong?

Anyone else know?

Stories and stories.

It is truly amazing the sort of material that crosses my desk each day. I get updates about and from Palestine-Israel, news releases from the World Council of Churches about climate change, peace and disarmament, ecumenical co-operation, or cluster bombs, commentary about US foreign policy, or requests for support for various actions to make the world a better place.

And then I go home, and while eating dinner watch the news and see a multitude of personal and communal tragedies; and there is this very real temptation or desire to turn the whole thing off. We are buried under an avalanche of stories and events and perspectives (which I am adding to with this blog), and sometimes it is almost too much to bear.

So we sift and block out. We take an interest in some issues, and let others simply pass straight through our heads into another space. The only way to survive really.

One of my filters has to do with a desire to hear the stories of those on the margins. One of the most important things I ever learned was the need to trust the voice of those who are being oppressed, not those who are the oppressors. Too often we ask those who abuse, imprison or illegally occupy for clues to the way forward, when in reality they have no interest in a way forward. The present reality works well for them, and any change they agree to will work for their benefit.

The stories that people tell are crucial to our reflections as Christians. I have had a love affair with the works of Stanley Hauerwas for many years. I really appreciate what he says about narrative, character and virtue. But I think there is a real weakness in Hauerwas’ thought. One gets the impression that he thinks there just ‘is’ a Christian story waiting to be discovered, or that his reading is somehow a neutral reading. He does not deal with the way in which our readings are always socially interested and protect interests. Nor does he take seriously enough the way in which following Jesus demands a character and set of virtues that lead to care of the least and the search for justice for the marginalized.

I think this is because when he talks of narrative he has too narrow a view of what this means. I think ethics is about the character and practices which emerge from a genuine engagement between two stories – mine and the Bible – around the meaning of fullness of life. I think Hauerwas does not take seriously enough my story, and thus pretends a neutrality that is harmful to those who do not sit where he sits.

The stories keep pouring over us, and some of them engage us and our account of the Christian faith in ways that lead to new ways of being in the world.

Acknowledging that we live on Aboriginal land

Last night at our church we shared a meal and conversation with some Aboriginal people about the importance of the acknowledgement that people live on their land. It was interesting to hear people talk about the way such actions are really about a shift in the way we view the world, and are of deep symbolic value. Acknowledgement and, sometimes, arranging for a welcome to country, are respectful actions which honour Aboriginal people and their life and history.

I think it is also important for Christians to realize that acknowledgement is not ‘simply’ an act of justice, an attempt to build better relationships with First peoples. When Christians enact particular moral stances we are seeking to reflect our understanding of the nature and place of God in the world. We see this clearly, for example, in the way the Ten Commandments are delivered to the people of Israel. The beginning of this teaching or law is: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Deut. 5:6). The laws that follow flow from that relationship, that sense of the activity and character of God.

To make this acknowledgement is to suggest something about the way we see God, our relationship to Jesus, and the shape of the Christian life. It is a way of imaginatively reconstructing the world and the way the church lives in invaded space.

The other thing that I found really uplifting in last night’s conversation was a new awareness of how hard people are working to reclaim their culture and language, including regaining skills to make some really important things like possum skin cloaks (which were worn across a large part of the eastern regions of Australia). And there is a wonderful dynamism to this as people now have to get pelts from New Zealand, and use the materials used to stitch saddles rather than sinews from kangaroos.

I am very grateful to Aboriginal people who are willing to share their life and stories with the rest of us. Thank you for you time and courage.

The importance of work

In his 1981 encyclical, Laborem exercens, Pope Paul II develops two helpful insights about work and capital that are worth recalling in the face of disputes at Qantas and the street protests around the world with their focus on Wall Street and the controlling power of big money.

First, work is important for self-formation and human life. Pope Paul says that part of what it means to be made in the image of God is to co-operate in the tending of the earth. This work is communal.

Sadly the Christian tradition was influenced by the view that what defined humanity was reason and rationality, and the way this tradition assigned workers and women to a subordinate place. This is still reflected in the way we value different kinds of work, and undervalue manual labour. What is particularly important is the Pope’s comment that because of the importance of work for human well-being, it is also work that makes people vulnerable to harm and distortion of their proper life. It implicitly highlights the destructiveness of unemployment and underemployment as both economic and personal issues.

It may seem like a slightly old-fashioned idea, but the second of the Pope’s insights is as important as the first: the central cause of dehumanization, oppression, alienation and war is the continuing conflict between labour (meaning people in all the broad forms of work) and capital (which is the result of the heritage of human labour), and that labour should have priority over capital. That is, the issue is not – as in Marx – who owns the capital, but whether it is used to serve labour, and whether those who labour are treated simply as units of production or human beings.

If we begin with the Pope’s insights then we approach a conflict like that at Qantas with a reading that takes seriously the claims of workers about the impact on their life, and the way Qantas serves their needs and not just those of the shareholders. It may allow us to understand that the point of strikes, which Qantas complaint about so loudly, is to force companies to negotiate.

Australia is not beset by strikes. Qantas was on the front page because it was unusual, and because it impacted on so many other parts of society – like tourism. It is not strikes that are hampering productivity improvements but under-investment in education, training and infrastructure, and an obsession with maximizing outputs rather than finding productivity improvements.

Christians need to enter the debate about workplace issues.