Willful Ignorance: Overcoming the Limitations of (Christian) Love for Refugees Seeking Asylum

Helen T. Boursier

doi:10.5771/9781793628275

Summary

Using ethnographic research, Willful Ignorance: Overcoming the Limitations of (Christian) Love for Refugees Seeking Asylum examines the attitudes of clergy and lay leaders regarding their (in)attention to racism as it intersects with the harsh reality of U.S. immigration policies and practices. This multi-faceted work begins with a reality check on the scope of forced migration and its intersection with the historical legacy of racism in America, including testimonies from displaced migrants and immigration advocates who help to alleviate state-inflicted suffering at the U.S.-Mexico border. Helen T. Boursier examines the rationales Christian leaders use to justify the local church’s nominal response, including the discursive buffers and stall tactics they use to deflect their lack of preaching, teaching, leadership and/or ministry with displaced migrants who are their near neighbors. The Christian church’s firm foundation to embody love as social justice provides a historical rebuttal, while case studies of congregations that offer displaced migrants compassionate hospitality model exemplary contemporary response. Closing with practical suggestions for how to begin building bridges with migrants, Boursier argues for a philosophy of religion that embraces resistance to racism and exclusion from asylum, through a missiology of compassion that exemplifies an ecclesiology of love.

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Bibliographic data

Edition: 1/2022
Copyright Year: 2022
ISBN-Print: 978-1-7936-2826-8
ISBN-Online: 978-1-7936-2827-5
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 384
Product Type: Monograph

1. Contents No access
2. List of Illustrations No access
3. Acronyms No access
4. Preface No access
5. Acknowledgments No access
Introduction No access Pages 1 - 10
Prelude. A Quick Review of Southern Border Headline News (2016–2020) No access Pages 11 - 20
1. 1. America’s Legacy of Racism: Black and Brown Migration in Historical Perspective No access
2. 2. Reality Check: Exclusion from Asylum at the US–Mexico Border (2016–2020) No access
3. 3. The Intensified Suffering of Migrant Children No access
4. 4. Willful Ignorance and the Christian Church’s Silence on the Human Rights Violations at the US–Mexico Border No access
5. 5. Discursive Buffers and Stall Tactics: Framing Leadership Excuses to “Sound” Better No access
1. 6. The Church’s Firm Foundation in Its Historical Witness to Social Justice No access
2. 7. Mixing Religion with Politics: The Medieval Period through the Enlightenment No access
3. 8. Global Events Influence Love-Informed Justice Theology: Twentieth Century Forward No access
4. 9. An Intersectionality of Diverse Voices Endorses the Church’s Engagement in Social Justice No access
1. 10. Religion as Resistance to Racism and Exclusion from Asylum No access
2. 11. Missiology of Compassion for Humanitarian Response: Case Studies in Action No access
3. 12. Ecclesiology of Love No access
4. 13. Building Bridges to Begin No access
Appendix A. Clergy and Religious Leadership Interview Questions No access Pages 331 - 334
Appendix B. Resources to Get Started with Education and Advocacy No access Pages 335 - 338
Bibliography No access Pages 339 - 362
Index No access Pages 363 - 382
About the Author No access Pages 383 - 384