Muslims Find an Open Door in Europe’s Churches

c. 2006 Religion News Service PARIS _ They came politely to St. Hippolyte Catholic Church one Wednesday afternoon: the middle-aged mason from Algeria; the onetime farmer from Mali; the two young Mauritanians who had fled drought and despair stalking their desolate country. And like a growing number of European parishes, St. Hippolyte let them in. […]

c. 2006 Religion News Service

PARIS _ They came politely to St. Hippolyte Catholic Church one Wednesday afternoon: the middle-aged mason from Algeria; the onetime farmer from Mali; the two young Mauritanians who had fled drought and despair stalking their desolate country.

And like a growing number of European parishes, St. Hippolyte let them in. “When someone knocks, you open the door,” said the Rev. Francis Barjot of his decision to give shelter and food to some 150 illegal immigrants earlier this month.


As the welcome mat vanishes for low-skilled immigrants across broad swaths of Europe, parishes and Christian groups are spearheading opposition to stricter entrance and integration requirements.

Their growing activism mirrors that of their counterparts in the United States, with one critical twist: Many of the foreigners seeking Christian support in Europe these days are Muslim.

In France and Belgium, churches have transformed into forums for sit-ins by illegal immigrants seeking legalization. In Switzerland, church leaders are championing a drive to repeal new measures against foreigners and asylum seekers.

And across the European Union, Christian clerics are preaching tolerance and compassion toward those whose values and religion sometimes clash with liberal, secular-minded Europe.

To be sure, many immigrants affected by tougher European laws are not Muslim. But rising anti-foreigner sentiments and fears of Islamic extremism are casting a particularly harsh spotlight on hundreds of thousands of Muslims flocking to the continent _ not to mention the 15 million who already live here.

Many Christian leaders argue they are simply doing their job in defending foreigners of all beliefs and backgrounds.

“Throughout different immigration policies in Europe, the churches have held a position that we have to respect the human dignity of people,” said Doris Peschke, secretary general of the Churches Commission for Migrants in Europe, a Brussels-based umbrella group of Protestant and Orthodox churches.


(FIRST OPTIONAL TRIM BEGINS)

“It doesn’t always mean open borders,” Peschke added, “but it does mean not restricting immigrants to their usefulness for our societies. Looking at them as human beings with their skills, but also with their needs.”

(FIRST OPTIONAL TRIM ENDS)

That message has resonated at St. Hippolyte, in southern Paris, where parishioners served bread and large bowls of coffee to several dozen illegal immigrants one recent morning. Almost all were Muslims from North and sub-Saharan Africa. But their conversations centered on their hardscrabble lives, not their religious beliefs.

Youssouf Sokhoahona, a slender 22-year-old farmer, said he had arrived in France by boat four years ago. “There’s nothing there,” Sokhoahona said of his tiny farm in southern Mauritania, where he eked out a living growing sorghum. “We have work only four months a year. If there’s a drought, there’s no work.”

Life in France has not been much better. Without skills or legal papers, Sokhoahona said he has not been able to find work. Relatives in Paris have no room to shelter him; he’s been living on the streets and in shelters.

A new immigration bill may only darken Sokhoahona’s prospects. Passed by the National Assembly this month, the legislation would make it harder for illegal foreigners to gain residency and for immigrants’ families to settle here. The bill would also cherry-pick skilled immigrants _ an initiative French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy dubs “chosen immigration.”

(SECOND OPTIONAL TRIM BEGINS)

“It will break up families,” said Barjot, the priest at St. Hippolyte. The chosen immigration clause, he said, “amounts to pillaging poor countries of their doctors, their professions, when we should be helping them develop.”


Protestant and Catholic leaders have petitioned the center-right government to soften the legislation. “The church has never said we have to welcome all immigrants,” said Antoine Herouard, deputy secretary general of the French Bishops’ Conference. “And it’s not the church that makes the laws. But there are some points that are fundamental for Christians _ for example the right to live as a family.”

Christian activism on behalf of immigrants is mirrored in Britain, where London’s Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor told cheering immigrant workers at a recent Mass they were “Londoners,” and in Belgium _ despite mixed feelings over a spate of church occupations by protesting immigrants.

(SECOND OPTIONAL TRIM ENDS)

Clerics have also spoken out against controversial screening tests in the Netherlands and parts of Germany, aimed to ensure that newcomers share similar social and political values. The Dutch entrance exam, for example, includes a video depicting gay men kissing on streets and topless beaches.

“We think it’s good for people to learn the language and integrate into society, but we also think it’s impossible to integrate if you can’t keep your own identity,” said Geesje Werkman, asylum spokeswoman for the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. “We have a lot of Christian immigrants who don’t feel comfortable about certain subjects either _ like homosexuality, like women living alone. It’s not only a Muslim issue.”

Still, many Muslims believe the new measures are particularly Islamophobic _ even as some argue their own mosques have done too little to oppose them.

“The Muslims are totally absent in the debate,” said Swiss Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan, referring to the new French immigration legislation. “French Muslim citizens are involved only in the political process when we speak about Islam. That’s totally wrong. Immigration isn’t only an Islamic issue.”


(THIRD OPTIONAL TRIM BEGINS)

Church activists say they rarely collaborate with their Muslim counterparts on immigration matters. “I think Muslim organizations have difficulties enough securing their place here,” Werkman said. “They’re not protesting or involved with these issues.”

Michael Privot, vice president of the Brussels-based European Muslim Youth and Student Organizations, believes a mix of factors _ from long-standing fears of participating in political demonstrations to the challenges of daily life in Europe _ explain Muslim failure to speak out against immigration restrictions.

“There’s still a survival mentality,” Privot said. “Many came for economic reasons. Their priority is getting their own families out of their home countries and their predicaments.”

(THIRD OPTIONAL TRIM ENDS)

Growing intolerance of immigrants in Europe _ and of Muslims in particular _ has not helped matters.

An April survey by Britain’s YouGov polling agency found two-thirds of the public believed there should be “tougher measures against Muslims who want to destroy this country.” And a slew of European surveys show strong support for tighter immigration measures, emboldening far-right parties from Antwerp to Turin.

That includes France’s National Front party, whose 77-year-old leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, is now stumping for next year’s presidential election with a new slogan: “France, love it or leave it.”


The Front is only slightly more polite when it comes to France’s Christian clerics. “They should concentrate on filling up their churches,” said Alain Vizier, a National Front spokesman, “rather than on political matters.”

(FOURTH OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)

Other extremists have also criticized church activism on behalf of immigrants. Western Europe, warned Paul Belien, editor of the right-wing Brussels Journal, “is turning Muslim, its Christian churches are committing suicide.”

Congregations, too, are divided over whether to welcome the immigrants who knock at their doors.

“It’s the same as in civil society,” said Werkman, of the Netherlands churches. “People who know the immigrants and their situations are sheltering and helping them. But those who don’t know them are saying: `Why should we shelter them? They should go back.”’

KRE/PH END BRYANT

Editors: To obtain photos of Youssouf Sokhoahona and other immigrants, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.

NEWS STORY

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!