"The dignity of men is unimpeachable."

Part of the construction of "the other" when discussing migrants or refugees is the differing religion. And while, according to the xenophobic, Islam-bashing rhetoric, the "Christian West" is threatened by non-Christians coming to Europe, this rhetoric completely ignores the very fact that this view is not compatible with so-called Christian values (one Eastern European country even had the "brilliant" idea to only accept Christian refugees from Syria, via). In his sermon, Jens Brandebusemeyer, a German pastor in Lower Saxony, quoted the sentence "The dignity of men is unimpeachable."  He continued that misanthropists who attacked asylum seekers physically or verbally with right-wing slogans could not be Christians, that solidarity with those in need, with refugees, had always been a responsibility of the Church. He concluded by inviting those who disagree with this message to leave the Church (and with "leave" he really meant leave, i.e., abandon/withdraw from the Church). The internet is celebrating this hero (via).



photograph of a man in Harlem by Weegee via