Logos Scotland’s brand new report is on a pretty divisive and difficult topic. At the top of our news agendas in the UK and across the world, how we tackle the issue of the many migrants and asylum seekers that are travelling across the world?
But rather than think about what is wrong with our current policies or add to them with new policies, Logos Scotland has gone back to first principles and asks what kind of society do we want to be in relation to asylum seekers and those seeking safety or a better life for them and their families. We start with a clean sheet of paper and suggest that if we start from biblical principles (which is where Logos Scotland is founded) what does that mean for our asylum policies.
This report is not about politics, it is about policies. It does not favour one political stance over another or agree with one party or another, but instead asks those in power to think about where do we begin from? What is the lens through which you are seeing this issue? What should the founding principles of any asylum policy be?
This paper sets a challenge for politicians to think much deeper about the issue and consider the motivations, historical realties and how our own beliefs impact our politics on this matter.
Now different politicians will come to different conclusions on how these principles manifest in policies, and that is okay, we need our leaders to think critically and carefully about why they believe what they do and why they have decided on one policy or another. For some reading this paper may lead them to think we need a tougher approach to the issue of asylum, for others they will feel it leads towards a more open approach, but what we seek to do is set a grounding, a foundational way of thinking that is based on what the Bible tells us about journeying, people and the kind of society that we should seek to be.
We hope you enjoy reading the report and that it starts some debates. Let us know what you think, we would love to hear your views on this topic.
You can read it on our reports page or click here