The Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland, The Most Rev’d John McDowell, has spoken out on the subject of the extreme right and violent opposition to migrants. Addressing 600 representatives at the Church of Ireland General Synod in Newcastle, the Archbishop also warned of the dangers posed by the so-called Christian Right.
In both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, official figures last year covering racist violence and racially motivated incidents showed worrying increases. Archbishop McDowell told General Synod: “It is my own view that our attitude to migration in Ireland, both north and south, is one of the great touchstones and tests of our Christian authenticity.
“… it seems to me that there is a fairly simple imperative when it comes to the ‘stranger that is in your midst’, and that is to welcome him or her and to care for him or her.
“It is also time to put a few myths to bed. Migration is not some form of organised conspiracy aimed at the colonial dispossession of the Irish people, as has been claimed by the extreme right in Ireland. Nor is it an attempt at creating a Muslim majority or a Muslim state, as has been called by many on the British extreme right.
“That increases in migration should be seized on by the extreme right who are bereft of any other ideas is not surprising, although it is less edifying when mainstream parties equivocate in the face of the horrendous violence which migrants suffer.
“However, from the Churches’ point of view, the more worrying development is the rise of the so-called Christian Right. These groups emphasise what they claim to be the undermining of ‘Christian civilisation’ or ‘Judeao-Christian’ values and the discrimination which they say Christians are subjected to. And they use the Cross – the very epitome of powerlessness, and what a very advanced ‘civilisation’ inflicted on Jesus – as some kind of symbol of their dominance and superiority.
“Exactly which aspect of discipleship in Jesus Christ is being exercised by baying outside a hostel while terrified children are inside? How is parading around the streets draped in a national flag representing the mind of the God of all the nations, who said: ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts and my ways are not our ways… for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’
“Migrants to this island are motivated by exactly the same desires which motivated the Irish immigrants to the USA in the eighteenth century – a desire for civic and religious freedom – or which motivated many Irish people to the emigrate to the USA and Britain in the nineteenth century: hunger and destitution.
“Migrants to this island want what we all want-to bring up children in security and decency; to provide them with a good education and the chance of a stable future. And to contribute to the communities in which they live.
“They bring with them enormous energy and fortitude and very often scarce skills. For these, and other reasons, there is every rational reason to welcome them.”
On the march of AI, Archbishop McDowell questioned whether it was another great leap forward in the liberation of mankind. He told General Synod: “Artificial Intelligence may relay information to us based on incredible calculations of probability and suitability, but we should not allow efficiency and convenience to become the primary values against which we measure whether this information is worth the resources expended to generate it. The costs are human and social as well as environmental, of course.”
