The current national discussion: “Should we accept Syrian refugees?” is complex and many Christians are unsure of what they should feel and think. Christians must have compassion for our fellow human beings, but that alone doesn’t provide guidance about what to do.

BreakPoint.org, a part of the highly respected Colson Center for Christian Worldview, has just put up a Symposium on the Syrian Refugee crisis. This symposium is a round table of current thinking, updated regularly as various Christian thought leaders weigh in. One of the leaders represented is Jay Richards, the Executive Editor at The Stream.

We encourage you to check out the symposium and check back there regularly as new voices are added.

 

We have also reprinted jay Richards’ contribution to the symposium at the bottom of this page:

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As the time of this post, the following writers had contributed:

Hunter Baker

Hunter Baker, J.D., Ph.D. serves as University Fellow at Union University.  His most recent book is The System Has a Soul.  He is also affiliated with the Acton Institute and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.

 

Mindy Belz 

Mindy Belz is senior editor of WORLD Magazine and author of the forthcoming They Say We Are Infidels: On the Run from ISIS with Persecuted Christians in the Middle East (Tyndale, 2016).

 

Bill Brown 

Senior Fellow, Worldview and Culture at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, director, Colson Fellows Program.

 

Joseph Castleberry, Ed.D.

President, Northwest University, author of “The New Pilgrims:  How Immigrants are Renewing America’s Faith and Values.

 

Gina Dalfonzo

Editor, BreakPoint.org.

 

Mollie Hemingway

The Federalist.

 

Brian Mattson

Dr. Brian Mattson, Senior Scholar of Public Theology, Center For Cultural Leadership.

 

Tony Perkins

President of the Family Research Council since 2003, Perkins is a former Louisiana State Legislator and police officer. FRC’s mission is to advance faith, family and freedom in public policy and the culture from a Christian worldview.

 

Jay Richards

Jay W. Richards, Ph.D., is the Executive Editor of The Stream, Assistant Research Professor in the School of Business and Economics at The Catholic University of America and a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute.

 

Ed Stetzer

Vice-President, Lifeway Research and Co-Host of “BreakPoint This Week.

 

John Stonestreet

President, The Colson Center for Christian Worldview.

 

Mark Tooley:

President, Institute on Religion and Democracy.

 

Andrew Walker and Travis Wussow

Travis Wussow serves as Director of Director of International Justice & Religious Freedom & General Counsel for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. @traviswussow.

Andrew T. Walker serves as Director of Policy Studies for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.@andrewtwalk.

 

Trevin Wax:

Managing Editor of The Gospel Project, author of multiple books, blogger at Kingdom People. (Trevin has written two articles about the refugee crisis, one in the Washington Post, and one at Religion News Service.

The symposium also includes quotes from and links to articles by Rod Dreher, Ross Douthat, Russell Moore, and Alan Cross.

 

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 The following portion of the symposium (from Jay Richards) reprinted with permission of BreakPoint:

Jay Richards

Any thoughtful Christian response to Syrian refugees should take account of the following.

1. The Bible’s command to care for the sojourner does not give us a ready answer of what to do.

2. Posing as a refugee is an inefficient way for terrorists to enter the US, so it’s unlikely that any particular refugee would be a terrorist.

3. Nevertheless, it’s folly to ignore the fact that ISIS has said they are planting agents among the flood of refugees.

4. Many Muslims hold beliefs that are hostile to American beliefs concerning religious freedom and human rights.

5. In Syria and Iraq, Christians and other religious minorities are in greater danger from Muslims than vice versa.

6. Christians and other religious minorities avoid UN refugee camps in Syria, because of persecution by Muslims.

Because of 6, Christian organizations are placing mostly Muslims in the US, under UN direction.

My conclusion? Christian organizations should focus their limited resources on finding and helping Christians and religious minorities in Syria who are most vulnerable and least likely to pose future threats to peace in the US.

Jay W. Richards, Ph.D., is the Executive Editor of The Stream, Assistant Research Professor in the School of Business and Economics at The Catholic University of America and a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute