I invited Guest Blogger James Oakley to deepen my understanding of his article  Parents as pastors: Asylum seekers in the April edition of the Tasmanian Anglican. James writes,

One of our members of federal Parliament took me to task about some aspects of that article – objecting that I had unfairly impugned the motives of politicians who adopt a different view than I do about right treatment of asylum seekers. Perhaps you read my original article and thought the same – that I was taking an easy shot at politicians.

My purpose in writing every ‘Parents as Pastors’ column is to help us think about and carry out the important responsibility of raising our children in the Christian faith. Part of that is helping children to think critically and biblically about contemporary issues, including political issues. So here is the core of my response to that elected member, with my prayer that it will be a challenge and a blessing to you as well.

I am sorry that you feel that the article was taking an easy shot at politicians and their motivation. If this was your understanding, then you have misread both the article and my intentions.

Please allow me to explain my concern to assist parents to raise their children to give God first place in their lives.

You are no doubt familiar with God’s command in Exodus 20:3: ‘You shall have no other gods before me.’ Martin Luther said in his commentary on this verse:

‘Thus it is with all idolatry; for it consists not merely in erecting an image and worshiping it, but rather in the heart, which stands gaping at something else, and seeks help and consolation from creatures, saints, or devils, and neither cares for God, nor looks to Him for so much good as to believe that He is willing to help, neither believes that whatever good it experiences comes from God. Ask and examine your heart diligently, and you will find whether it cleaves to God alone or not.’

My purpose in writing the article was to invite readers to consider deeply their own attitude to Australian nationalism and self-determination in light of the debate around asylum seekers who arrive by boat. The public debate, from both major political parties, treats these people as pawns to be deployed in discouraging others and/or combatting people smuggling. I specifically asked my readers to consider, in light of this public rhetoric, whether they have ‘elevate[d] their concept of Australia to the position that God properly occupies.’ It is the sort of careful soul searching that all Christians, including those who are members of Parliament, ought to regularly engage in.

From this position of self-reflection, I asked readers to consider how they bring up their children to have no other gods besides God.

I do not question the heart or motivation of our politicians in my article. However, it is altogether right that we weigh the public words and actions of our elected representatives, and that we speak up if they are found wanting. For this purpose I criticised the public statements and deeds of governments of both political persuasions. Most pertinently, I challenged the idea that these asylum seekers can properly be described as ‘queue jumpers’. …  The fact remains that there are no signatories to the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees in Southeast Asia. The UNHCR has offices in some of those countries, but is then dependent on the goodwill of the hosting country as well as other receiving countries to resettle refugees. The legal regimen in some of those countries leaves asylum seekers extremely vulnerable to arrest, imprisonment, torture, and deportation. The UNHCR, on its website, alerts the world to the vulnerability of asylum seekers in much of Southeast Asia. Scott Morrison, the Opposition spokesman for Immigration, highlighted the very real risk that asylum seekers face in Malaysia, (‘Asylum seekers “treated like Indonesian cattle” says Scott Morrison’, Herald Sun, June 2, 2011). [WARNING – this link starts with a graphic video of a flogging, which you may need to stop or scroll past.]

There simply is no ‘safe haven’ between Australia and countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, or Sri Lanka (all of which account for the vast majority of boat arrivals in the last 10 years). It is little wonder that desperate people move on to somewhere that seems safer. And the existence of other deserving people elsewhere in the world does not relieve us of our international legal responsibilities, nor of our Christian responsibilities to our neighbour – including all those asylum seekers who come within our capacity to help.

There is ample material in the public sphere by which to judge the record of Australian governments on asylum seekers, but this is not the primary focus of my article. My article is certainly not asking readers to judge the motivations of our politicians. Rather, my purpose is to ask myself and my readers what I now respectfully ask of you: examine your own heart diligently, and find whether it cleaves to God alone or not.

 Also see, Churches’ humane call asylum seekers.