Rev Inderjit Bhogal, a former president of the British Methodist Conference, who is currently working with Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) on the Church of Sanctuary project, comments on the passing of the UK Nationality and Borders Bill 2021 in the light of the Rwanda crisis.
The gospel does not go from crucifixion to crucifixion. It goes from crucifixion to resurrection. Anything that goes from suffering to suffering contradicts the gospel. The Nationality and Borders Bill, which is now law, is a case in point. It treats already suffering people with more suffering and humiliation. It treats people as deserving and undeserving refugees. The criteria to determine refugee status is not fleeing suffering but the means of travel and routes taken.
Sending people seeking sanctuary to Rwanda is inhumane, cruel, morally bankrupt and theologically nonsense. It demonises harmless people, dehumanises human beings, sanctions hatred and hostility. It takes people from crucifixion to crucifixion.
We need safe routes for all refugees, from anywhere in the world. Government has a duty by the UN Refugee Convention to provide safe care and hospitality for all refugees. Justice, mercy and humility, not injustice, cruelty and humiliation for all the crucified people of the world. This is the challenge of redemption, resurrection, restoration.
Inderjit Bhogal