A Sad Day for America

Refugees walking through cornfields as they are crossing the Serbian-Croatian border

 

Today is a sad day for America. The US House voted overwhelmingly to block the program that would have otherwise allowed 10000 Syrian refugees enter the US.

The Syrian refugees are not terrorists. Today America is punishing the people who are running away from the very kind of people who masterminded the Paris massacre last Friday. Today the US House has in a way scapegoated and betrayed the homeless of the world.

At the time when the same group of American leaders would not budge a bit away from their position on the gun laws, although thousands of people are killed by guns in the US every year, the same people rushed into criminalizing refugees although there is no convincing evidence in the existence yet that anything more than a couple of terrorists might have abused the refugee trail so far.

I wonder if the decision of the US House was a result of ignorance, paranoia and international illiteracy buttressed by constant media mongering? Or was it the outcome of the cold political calculations that have to do more with the coming presidential elections than with the issues of nation’s safety and security?

It is concerning indeed to watch how the lives of ordinary men and women, children and many young people for whom the only way to survive is to leave Syria, are now sacrificed as the collateral damage of domestic and international politicking.

It is even more disgraceful to see how individual presidential candidates are using the refugee crisis as a means of scoring a point or two in hope to buttress their candidacy. It seems that they are actually trying to outdo each other in who is going to use more meaningless statements regarding the “threat” of refugees.

And yet the same candidates pride in their Christian faith, values and honesty. Donald Trump, I am not expecting any better from you. Ben Carson, are we reading the same Bible?

It is also sad to hear the concerns about the nation’s safety. Mind you, we are talking of a tiny group of 10000 refugees,  a number that will be barely noticeable once dispersed across the continent. And all of it is happening at the time when small Balkan countries that share the refugee corridor (Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia) have to deal with 10000 refugees every day with far less means and resources than America. And some of those countries’ population number less than the population of an American city the size of Houston.

This is not the day of victory for America, but the day of defeat. The US House decision was not supported by facts but by fears, ignorance and arrogance.  I would like to ask the proponents of this shameful decision, since many of them are Bible believing men and women – What Biblical values did you uphold today?

And I would like to ask American politicians, governors and presidential candidates, many of whom are Christians – What Christian or Christ-like values or principles are visible in the decision of the House today?

Today America has sent the message to the world that the lives of others do not matter. Today the conservative America has not been pro-life. These are the words of the Lord given to America today: “If anyone knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” James 4:17.

Additional Recommendations:

Read also my latest article published by Sojourners: Here’s What We’re Getting Wrong…

Listen also the audio recording of an interactive session with Tihomir Kukolja on the Current Refugee Crisis, at the A&M University, College Station TX On Wednesday, Nov 18, 2015, and hosted by The Fulbright Student Association, and moderated by Viktor Mitevski. The quality and dynamics of the presentation was enhanced by a good discussion and many comments and questions initiated by students attending the event. https://soundcloud.com/byndimed/current-refugee-crisis