GWOT

A modest proposal for the refugee crisis

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

I don’t post often, but with the recent talk about Christian responses to Syrian refugees, I wanted to offer my humble proposal.

Most of the discussion seems to revolve around to issues: security at home and love for the refugee. It seems to me both could be handled by working with Middle Eastern nations to provide a Middle Eastern alternative.

Providing a safe, secure place for refugees in the Middle East would solve most of the debate. US involvement would allow us to love the refugee. By making sure the facility is safe and clean we could provide a pleasant, temporary home for those displaced by war. By employing them in the care and upkeep of the facility we could also address the human need to work, allowing them to keep their dignity. Finally, by establishing the location in the Middle East we allow for a smoother resettlement of refugees after the war.

On the homefront this also loves our next door neighbor by addressing real security concerns. With attacks in Canada, Europe, and now the US, the concerns of our fellow Americans cannot be boiled down to simple racism. There concerns are based upon real events, not the perceived ‘otherness’ of refugees.

It strikes me that we did something similar in Africa during the last Ebola crisis. The US Military rapidly deployed and built facilities to house and care for the sick. Certainly we could do the same thing in the Middle East, working with a host nation.

Of course this suggestion isn’t without challenges. The greatest challenge maybe finding a Middle Eastern nation to help. However, we must have some leverage we could use to persuade allied nations to support this action.

So, to recap, establishing a refugee center in the Middle East would love the refugee by providing for the safety, security, and eventual return whom, while also loving our next door neighbor by providing security for the homefront.

Must Read

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

The firefight ebbs. The mortar fire ceases. A few last stray rounds streak past. A cry from behind causes me to turn. Lying in the road is a young Iraqi woman. I run over to help. She’s caught a round just below her temple. Her stunning beauty has been ruined forever.She cries, “Paper! Paper” over and over until the ambulance arrives to take her away. An old lady emerges from the schoolhouse-turned voting site, sheets of blue paper in hand. She gives one to the wounded girl, who clutches it to her like a prized possession even as the ambulance carries her away.The ballot was her voice. All she wanted was a chance to exercise it, just once, before she died.

via Our Mission is Finally Accomplished… Anyone Care? | David Bellavia.

David Bellavia puts into perspective what our troops accomplished in Iraq.  This should be a must read for every citizen.  Agree with the invasion or not, it cannot be denied that our fighting men and women secured a brighter future for an oppressed people.

Read the whole thing.

U.S. Starts Afghan Surge – WSJ.com

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

MARJAH, Afghanistan—U.S. and Afghan troops invaded this Taliban-held town early Saturday, launching the main thrust of the largest coalition offensive since 2001, a test of whether Americas surge strategy can rescue the faltering war effort.

via U.S. Starts Afghan Surge – WSJ.com.

As our forces ratchet up the fight in Afghanistan, please pray for them and their families back home.  Regardless of your view on our present conflict, we can all agree that lasting peace and safe return for these men and women are goals worth praying for.

But do the trains run on time?

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

The Rt Rev Stephen Venner called for a more sympathetic approach to the Islamic fundamentalists that recognises their humanity.

via Taliban can be admired for their faith and loyalty, says bishop – Telegraph.

Wow, just wow.  I’m all about grace, mercy and forgiveness, but I have a real hard time with Rt Rev Venner’s assessment of the Taliban.  These are folks to use suicide bombing, threats of violence, human shields and more to try and regain control of Afghanistan.

They behead journalists, destroy relics and really have nothing to commend themselves.   To say,

“The Taliban can perhaps be admired for their conviction to their faith and their sense of loyalty to each other.”

Is akin to saying, “We can admire HItler, perhaps, for the punctuality of Nazi Germany’s train system.”

Christianity is a religion of grace and peace.  But it is also a religion of repentance.  I’m all for the Taliban repenting and becoming brothers in Christ.  Until then, our nation and west fails to protect ourselves by acting as if the Taliban are anything more than animals.

UPDATE: A good friend recently questioned whether these sentences conveyed what I meant, so I’ve decided to clarify.

The Church needs to pray that God would raise up a generation of missionary martyrs, men and women called to evangelize the Muslim world at the cost of their own life.  However, we must guard against the moral relativism which would seek to minimize the attrocities of folks like Al Qaeda and the Taliban because of such virtues as faithfulness to their beliefs and brothers.  From a civil point of view such moral equivalence will get more innocent people killed.

God imbued government with the power of the sword.  He did so in order that governments might, as His regents, restrain evil.  War is one such example.  History shows us that, once war has been joined, the most humane path is the path of overwhelming violence that breaks the enemies will.  Only in this way can decisive victory be achieved and real peace be established.  In this way our greatest enemies of WWII (Germany and Japan) became friends and allies.  In this way Israel finds itself still beset by enemies, despite victories over them.