Meeting the challenge
of hatred and violence
The Most Reverend Kay Goldsworthy AO, Archbishop of Perth
Time may be moving on but must not be allowed to fade the memories of the rallies which ushered in the start of spring around Australia – nor any more like them to come.
Demonstrations are not unfamiliar in Australia. People are allowed to gather and march to signal issues of concern in Australia and beyond, as a way of standing for or against matters of public interest. I do not always agree with the sentiments behind such marches, though sometimes I do, and sometimes I participate in them. I think, for example, of marches calling attention to children in detention, to the plight of refugees, and to the need for real community change in the face of the ongoing scourge of family and domestic violence.
But the rallies of the last weekend in August were a shock, fuelled as they were by anti-immigration rhetoric, with some also including the alarming presence of neo-Nazi groups.
The violence, hate speak and chants must surely challenge any fair-minded Australian, whatever their background or creed, and they captured international headlines in the worst way. This is not the image of Australia we want spreading around the world.
For those of us who are disciples of Jesus and members of the Anglican Church, what we witnessed that weekend represents a deep spiritual challenge. I am not alone in feeling that the images of racial and physical violence strike at the very heart of the gospel we are called to proclaim and embody. I felt the impact in my body of people draped in flags chanting “Aussie! Oi!” I don’t see myself using that chant again any time soon. We also saw images of First Nations Australians being physically attacked by a group of extremists. To say it was ‘unacceptable’ is a massive understatement.
While people are certainly free to voice their concerns about matters of public policy, I can only imagine how many in our Anglican and wider community felt after witnessing such harsh words and sentiments against migrants. So many in our community have themselves arrived in Australia from places of fear and violence. They have come seeking, for themselves and their families, a home and a community of safety and welcome, where they can grow, belong and contribute.
The biblical witness is clear. God’s people are called to be a community drawn from “every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9). From the covenant with Abraham, through whom “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3), to the vision of the heavenly city where the nations walk in God’s light (Revelation 21:24), the Scriptures testify that God’s purposes are not limited to any ethnic or cultural boundaries.
The Christian scholar and theologian, Walter Brueggemann, reminds us that Israel’s story of displacement, exodus, and exile forms the foundation for a biblical ethic of hospitality. He writes: “The central mandate of biblical faith is to welcome the stranger because Israel itself was once a stranger”.1 To reject or scapegoat migrants and refugees is to forget our own faith history of identity as a people redeemed from slavery and gathered into God’s household of grace. We each have the Christian experience of being welcomed into the household of faith through the sacrificial loving of Jesus. Because of this, we witness to God’s love alive in Jesus Christ as we work together for peace and justice as God’s “rainbow people”, to quote Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
The violent rhetoric of neo-Nazi groups poses a particular danger because it dresses itself in distorted appeals to belonging, loyalty, and even a false doctrine of God. We must be alert to how vulnerable people, especially the young, can be groomed into believing that God’s love is reserved for some and denied to others. This is a lie. We believe instead that Christ “is our peace; in his flesh he has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us” (Ephesians 2:14).
Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, wrote that the Church is called to be “a community where the stranger is brought into a new set of relationships … where recognition is given before identity is secured”.2 The so-called “doctrine of exclusion” offered by extremist movements is nothing less than a false gospel, a denial of Christ’s reconciling love, and a betrayal of the truth that in Christ all are made one.
So what can the Anglican community do in response to this challenge before us?
We can all continue to pray for the common good. Pray for those drawn into movements of hatred, that their hearts may be turned. Pray for those on the receiving end of violence and intimidation, that they may know protection and dignity. In our parishes, schools and local communities, all of us are already working to create spaces of welcome, belonging, and hope.
Keep on with this vital, life-giving work.
I have encouraged clergy and leaders in our Church to use their particular positions of influence to shape our response too – firstly in preaching and teaching with clarity that racism and xenophobia have no place in the Body of Christ. We want to amplify the message of Scripture that calls us to love the stranger; to remember that we ourselves were once far off and have been brought near; and to live into the vision of God’s diverse kingdom within and beyond our congregations.
Secondly, there is the opportunity to stand visibly with communities targeted by hate. Where there is fear in our communities, we can bring reassurance. Where there is suspicion, we can model trust. When we see violence, we can be agents of that peace which passes all understanding.
Leaders in our Anglican community are also in a position to call out any movement’s claim to preach “love” when in fact spread they are in the business of spreading hatred. That can be named for what it is: a distortion of the Gospel. Anglican leaders are called to guard the flock from such lies, and to guide our people toward the truth that love is not fearful, isolating or divisive.
God calls the Church again and again to be a counter-witness, to be a community that embodies God’s reconciling love, not out of fear, but out of confidence that the risen Christ reigns, and that perfect love casts out fear.
May the Spirit give us all courage to resist hatred, wisdom to speak truth, and compassion to extend Christ’s welcome to all.
1 Walter Bruggermnann Journey to the Common Good. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press 2010, p3
2 Rowan Williams, Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief. Canterbury Press, p77