A Christian Perspective on Immigrants

In dealing with immigrants, we are to follow the Golden Rule in treating others as we wish to be treated (Matthew 7:12). And the commands to show hospitality to immigrants still apply.

However, that does not mean we should endorse and embrace all immigration—illegal or even legal if subverting morality and acceptable culture. Our own practice as strangers is to follow the laws of the land that don’t contradict God’s laws (Romans 13). And where we are not able to follow laws that contradict God’s laws (Acts 5:29), that never means inflicting harm on those of the nation around us, as some immigrants—Islamist jihadists a prime example—would seek to do. Our adherence to God’s laws when there is conflict with the laws and traditions of the surrounding society is done peacefully on our part (Romans 12:18).

In considering the immigration issue, we should have great sympathy toward those who are simply seeking a better life for themselves and their families—and be welcoming and kind even if they are not assimilating. Never are we to be racist, as God Himself is not (Acts 10:34-35). Nor are we to be ethnocentrists apart from promoting the superiority of biblical morality and liberty. It’s good to be patriotic (having love for one’s country), but not chauvinist or nationalistic and putting others down where there is no issue of morality.

Still, we must recognize that cultures more closely aligned with biblical teaching are superior to others in important respects. Economics professor Walter Williams writes: “Ask a diversity/ multiculturalism advocate: Is forcible female genital mutilation, as practiced in nearly 30 sub-Saharan African and Middle Eastern countries, a morally equivalent cultural value? Slavery is practiced in northern Sudan. In most of the Middle East, there are numerous limits placed on women, such as prohibitions on driving, employment and education . . . Are all these cultural values morally equivalent to those of the West?” (“Multiculturalism: A Failed Concept,” CNSNews.com, June 29, 2016).

Sadly, such values are making inroads into the West through immigration and growing Islamist communities—in direct conflict with godly standards and values.