Perspectief 2017-36

Perspectief 38 Werk van jonge theologen throughout religious as well as secular media around the world, and his homilies and weekly audiences give him a platform to connect the on-going, multi-faceted issue of the refugee crisis to people’s religious beliefs and to their daily lives, for instance by encouraging prayer and the housing of refugees in every Catholic parish. Such regular spiritual messages are not part of the LWF’s mission 121 and are left to local churches to spread. 3. Confrontation with international humanitarian law A study of confessional perspectives on the refugee crisis cannot neglect to connect the topic to the way Catholicism and Lutheranism position themselves in relation to the international structures of law. In this study it has become evident that both the Catholic and Lutheran churches have adopted a definition of ‘refugee’ rather different than the one that is customary in international law. This results in their simultaneously critical position over against contemporary politics and the public debate in the media. It is worth contrasting the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees with the biblical and traditional arguments posed by churches. Put aside their differences on the theological foundations of their respective positions, the two churches – when issuing statements on migration and the refugee crisis, strongly agree that the definition put forth by the Geneva Convention is too restrictive. This has consequences: in the actual debate, political decisions are made on the basis of precisely this juridical convention, and in more than one case, politicians are tending toward a revision of the 1951 Convention with the aim of making it even more restrictive. On this level, the role of the churches in the crisis is of great interest. The churches are obliged to operate within the legal framework of international humanitarian law, but are critical of the way this is currently being read in the political landscape, as a result of their respective doctrinally inspired aim at going further than the strict boundaries of the Convention. 121 Lutheran World Federation (undated) Our priorities accessed June 1, 2016 at https://www.lutheranworld.org/content/our-priorities.