Support for UKIP is rising. While education secretary, Michael Gove decreed that education should teach 'British Values'. A few years ago we had the country at its most patriotic, with the Royal Wedding, Jubilee and Olympics. The EU has expanded and this time last year we'd been expecting a 'flood' of immigrants (although they didn't come - we got actual floods instead). At the same time, the slowly recovering economy is not where we want it to be, and the NHS is constantly reported as struggling and stretched. Last year, a British Social Attitudes survey showed that 1 in 3 people admit to having racial prejudices. But I thank the BBC for pointing out to the world the obvious flaw in using these figures to measure actual racism, because what may be the case is that people are setting the bar much higher. We may actually be less racist than we were before, but we also expect a far higher standard of tolerance of ourselves and are aware that we don't measure up.
But where do these attitudes come from? Firstly, I think that prejudice and bigotry of all kinds stem from fear. In the case of immigration, there is a fear of the unknown, and a fear of the real concern of over population. When I was young, I didn't 'get' racism. That was because there was no opportunity to even imagine a fear. Where I grew up in Devon, there were very few ethnic minorities (unless, of course, you count my Cornish family). I could count on one hand the number of either non-British or non-white people in my school. It was only when I saw other parts of the country that I understood how the racism narratives - the 'coming here and taking our jobs' stories - had developed. Whether real or not, it was a explanation in people's minds for falling job opportunities and poverty, and an outlet for the frustration and hatred felt. There was someone to blame.
Secondly, there is the entitlement story, arguably the other side of the same coin. I think now of the modern day issue: the lack of young British people working in chains such as Pret a Manger. It's an emotive topic, and it leads many to think that British youngsters should be given more of a chance.
Entitlement and fear converge on one thing: it's OUR country. We want to mark our territory when we're afraid that someone might take it. And then when we've got our territory, we believe we're entitled to it.
Well let me put forward a realisation that I had the other day. It's not my country, it's not your country, it's GOD'S country. The places in which I live, work, socialise and call my own are given to me by my Heavenly Father, and he can give and take away as he pleases.
If you don't believe in a God, then your rebuttal might be that there is no God, and therefore man is welcome to mark his territory where he pleases. However, if there is no external standard and we are free to do as we please, then what divine right do you have to a place? If you are a Christian, you may come back at me with the view that Levitical laws stated that interest could be charged to foreigners in the land, but not to fellow Israelites. There was a right to the land through inheritance. We don't often think about it today, but the word 'Nation' comes from the same route as 'naitre' - to be born. Traditionally, and etymologically, a nation is an ethnic group and membership is by birthright.
But Romans 9:7-8 says that we are Abraham's descendants not because of physical descent, but through the promise (given to Abraham that Sarah would bear a child in her old age). Later in chapter 11 Paul goes on to talk about the Gentiles being branches 'grafted in' and that there is no difference between those natural branches and those which are grafted in. We cannot use the Levitical laws I've cited to justify our own personal territorialism because the new Israel is not an ethnic group, but a nation from all corners of the world drawn together by a promise, whose inheritance is not on earth but in Heaven. We are all foreigners in a strange land, so let's have empathy with those who are foreigners for a different reason. This is what we are commanded to do (Leviticus 19:34).
As an aside, It is heartening to see how many narratives of what it means to be British also follow this idea to some extent. Sometimes, Britishness is not seen as something which we are born into, but something adopted - why else would we think we could use a test of cultural knowledge to determine citizenship? Although this is different to citizenship in heaven, which is not earned and which no amount of swotting up on how much pocket money children should get will help, I do think that our attitudes to national identity have been shaped by our Christian heritage.
And as for the fear, Jesus himself says:
'Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear....Consider the ravens: they do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; and yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable are you than birds!' (Luke 12:22-24-25).
One modern day equivalent could be this:
'Therefore I tell you, do not worry about the economy, how many jobs there will be, or the housing market or whether there will be a hospital bed for you when you need it...Consider the ravens: they do not have planning or border control, and yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable are you than they!'
Now, if we're not worrying about the effects of immigration on our own pockets, then we needn't fear that a bunch of Romanians are about to come over and steal our jobs and hospital beds. And if we are not afraid, then we can stop seeing people as a group and a threat, but as individuals. Understanding that people are individuals is the ultimate antidote to racism and prejudice.
Now, I realise that this post doesn't answer the difficult questions of immigration policy. Politicians face many difficult issues when trying to get the best for their electorate. Resource scarcity, such as housing, is an issue. At the same time, so is providing refuge to those in need, along with securing a country's place on the global stage and building a strong economy. But I'm not trying to define what our immigration policy should be, but rather how we should respond in our hearts and our lives to whatever the situation might be.
So, the antidote to immigration-related racism? Free ourselves from the idea that we can be in control, that we are owed anything, and the fear. If we look outwards rather than trying to cling onto what we think we can control, suddenly it seems easy to see people as individuals.
