Immigration Article of the Day: A Migrant 4 Life Journeys to the New Tower of Babel: Christianity and Immigration by Craig B. Mousin

A Migrant 4 Life Journeys to the New Tower of Babel: Christianity and Immigration  by Craig B. Mousin, in Welcoming the Stranger:  Abrahamic Hospitality and Its Contemporary Implications (Ori Z. Soltes and Rachel Stern, eds., Fordham University Press, 2024)

Abstract

Tasked with summarizing Christian responses to immigration for a book on interfaith understandings of hospitality and recognizing that over 200 Christian denominations within the United States may offer multiple interpretations of Scripture, this chapter focuses on two opposite interpretations categorizing them as restrictionists and receptionists. The chapter contrasts how each group interprets Genesis’ Tower of Babel story to either restrict immigration or to welcome the stranger. The restrictionists, represented by MAGA Jesus, interpret the Tower of Babel story as calling for individual nations to protect borders. In that pursuit, they distinguish between lawful strangers a nation welcomes, and those who constitute the enemy who should be excluded or deported. The receptionists, those welcoming the stranger, are represented by Jesus, the Migrant 4 Life. For them, the Tower of Babel cautions against authoritarian government and, instead, welcomes diversity. After setting out the major arguments relied on by both sides, the chapter argues that the Border Wall represents a new Tower of Babel—an idol of false security—that divides Christians. Instead, the Parable of the Good Samaritan, interpreted as a critique of walls and legal barriers, invites believers to adopt the biblical call to assist the vulnerable such as the widow, the orphan, and the stranger. The chapter concludes that shared belief among restrictionists and receptionists in assisting the vulnerable can inspire a dialogue to fix a broken immigration system. Good stewardship calls for reallocating the excessive funding for militarizing the border, decreasing detention funding, increasing refugee resettlement, enhancing legal procedures and due process for determining asylum status, and welcoming the Migrant 4 Life.

KJ