In both the US and the UK there are serious and genuine arguments to be had about immigration, integration and social cohesion. But the debate within the SBC has highlighted something else: that for Christians, religious plurality is non-negotiable. Not just because it provides opportunities for evangelism, and not even because it prevents governments discriminating against Christians too. It is fundamental because it recognises the uniquely precious capacity of human beings to respond to God in their own way and in their own time, their inalienable freedom to choose, and even to choose wrongly.
The great temptation is to imagine that in order for someone to be fully British, or fully American, they have to fit a certain spiritual and cultural template. That's what drives the hatred at Trump rallies, chillingly documented in a series of tweets yesterday by journalist Jared Sexton. That's what drives Harris and Wofford. But Christians need to stand firm: whatever reasons we might have for wanting to keep out the people who so desperately want to come to the UK, their religion must not be one of them.
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