Weekly Thoughts

There are numerous calls these days for UK to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights. This convention was drawn up after World War II to make any reoccurrence of the horrors of Nazi Germany impossible; Winston Churchill played a key part in its drafting, Now it is argued that the way two Articles of the Convention: 3 (freedom from torture and or inhuman or degrading treatment) and 8 (right to family life) have been interpreted in ways that make it impossible for us to deal with the problem of illegal immigrants.

For a start there are no illegal immigrants as there is no law which prohibits people from coming to this country. Some immigrants, particularly those crossing the channel in small boats, arrive here without going through the proper immigration procedures so it would be more appropriate and less emotive to call them informal immigrants. Secondly this country needs immigrants: we have a declining and increasingly elderly population and we need people from other countries to staff essential services, particularly in the health and social care sectors. Immigrants are not just a source of cheap labour, they bring skills and expertise to a number of important fields.

We also need to be mindful of the consequences of withdrawal. It would align us with other countries which do not subscribe to the Convention: Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan and the Vatican. Secondly it would make it impossible for us to criticize other countries for not honouring the Convention. Thirdly, and perhaps most important we would not only be abolishing the human rights of immigrants we would be abolishing them for ourselves. Most of the problems around immigration arise from the huge backlog which has been allowed to develop over the processing of immigration claims. So perhaps the most urgent steps which need to be taken are those which would clear that.

For Christians the most fundamental point is that all human beings are made in the image of God. Scripture urges on us our duty to care for the “alien in our midst”, However much the image of God may distorted in individual people because of the circumstances of their lives, it is still fundamentally there and we should respect that. A lot of misinformation and hysteria has developed in recent years around the question of immigration which has been a feature of life here for centuries and we need to counteract that with clear unemotional thinking. 

READINGS AND PRAYERS

10 AUGUST – EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

11 AUGUST  - Clare of Assisi, Founder of the Minoresses, 1253 –  John Henry Newman, Priest, Tractarian, 1890 - 1 Corinthians 2.10-16 – We teach spiritual things spiritually - theologians

12 AUGUST – Tuesday = Deuteronomy 31.1-8 – Joshua assume leadership of the Israelites from Moses – the appointment of a new Archbishop of Canterbury

13 AUGUST – Jeremy Taylor, Bishop of Down and Connor, Teacher of the Faith, 1667 – Titus 2.7,8 11-14 – I have not come abolish but to fulfil – all who teach the Faith today 

14 AUGUST – Maximilian Kolbe, Friar, Martyr, 1941 – John 15.12-16 – love one another as I love you – those who lay down their lives for their friends 

15 AUGUST – THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY  - Revelation 11.19, 12.1-6, 10 – the woman clothed with the sun – thanksgiving for the BVM

16 AUGUST – Saturday – Matthew 19.13-15 – let the little children come to me – our ministry to children and young people