Majority of Lutheran vicars ready to defy law to help asylum seekers

Survey shows nearly all would give sanctuary to asylum seeker

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A survey conducted by Helsingin Sanomat indicates that a majority of Lutheran vicars would allow their congregations to defy worldly law, if the congregation feels that obedience would lead to injustice.
      In addition, nearly every vicar would be willing to offer sanctuary for an asylum seeker, if a decision to expel a would-be refugee seems unfair.
      In Turku, the St. Michael's parish has given Iranian asylum-seeker Naze Aghai and helped her in her fight against threatened deportation. Lutheran parishes in Kuopio have helped Sudanese asylum seeker Anna Lado.
      Of the 30 vicars surveyed, 28 say that they would be willing to do the same.
     
"There has to be a forum in which people's own experiences and stories are believed - even at the risk of being duped", explains Hannu Tiainen, vicar of the parish of Pukkila.
      Only Jari Pennanen, Vicar of the parish of Hamina and Vehkalahti, would have refused to help Naze Aghai and Anna Lado, and even he would be willing to help applicants, whose expulsion he could consider indisputably unjust.
      One vicar did not voice an opinion on the matter.
     
At the Directorate of Immigration, director-general Jorma Vuorio does not believe that the vicars would not have confidence in the activities of the directorate.
      "I believe that the question is that of the role that the vicars see for the church - and not that they feel that officials would have failed in their activities", Vuorio observes.
      He expects that increasing numbers of asylum seekers will be look for sanctuary with the church.
      "I see no conflict here. Normally these asylum-seekers would wait for a decision at a refugee reception centre. This is like a new system alongside them", he says.
      Aila Lauha, Professor of Church History at the University of Helsinki, points out that in the cases of Naze Aghai and Anna Lado, the church has gone against the interpretation of the law, but not the law itself. She does not remember a situation in recent decades in which the church would have deliberately defied the law.
      The results of the survey suggest that such a situation could emerge. The vicars are divided fairly clearly into two camps, when asked about the right of a congregation to defy decisions of worldly authorities.
      Of those responding to the question, 17 would accept such defiance, and 10 would not. Three did not have a clear opinion.
      "The church has done so before, and this is how it must dare to do in the future. It must be a voice for those who do not have one", explained Outokumpu Vicar Kaapo Björklund.
      A few of the vicars used Nazi Germany as a metaphor: the church should have actively resisted.
     
Professor Aila Lauha does not believe that the views of the vicars would be as sharply divided as the Helsingin Sanomat survey suggests.
      "I suspect that the question raised various images in the minds of the vicars. Some have thought about the asylum seekers in their responses, and others about the overall situation", Lauha ponders.
      "The church has traditionally respected legal authorities and has not sought to put itself above them. The church has sought to change laws by taking part in social debate, and by proclaiming and teaching."


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Lutheran bishops call for more humane legislation on foreigners (13.9.2007)
  Court blocks forced repatriation of Iranian Kurdish woman (10.9.2007)
  Supreme administrative court suspends deportation of Sudanese asylum seeker (14.9.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat