A Christian Response to Xenophobia

1. A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE to
By Dr. Peter Hammond

3. "You shall
neither mistreat
a stranger,
nor oppress
him,
for you were
strangers
in the land
of Egypt."
Exodus 22:21

4. Xenophobia is the fear and hatred of foreign people.

5. Murderous Mobs
Two Ethiopians were petrol bombed and a 14 year old
boy murdered in a wave of xenophobic attacks on
foreign nationals in KwaMashu and Umlazi in KwaZulu
over the last 2 weeks.

6. Open
Borders
The Southern
African Migration
Project (SAMP),
reported that one of
the un-anticipated
by-products of the
ANC government's
"open border" policy
has been a growth
in intolerance
towards foreigners.

7. Violence against foreign citizens and refugees has become increasingly
common.

8. The United
Nations
High
Commission
for Refugees
has
expressed
concerns
over the
safety of
refugees in
South
Africa,

9. especially after
the graphic
pictures of South
Africans burning
Zimbabwean
refugees in
brutal necklace
murders made
front-page news
worldwide in
2008 when
100,000 people
were displaced
and at least 50
brutally
murdered.

10. when 100,000 people were
displaced and at least
50 brutally murdered.

11. Unfriendly
A study based on a citizen
survey across the member
states of the Southern
African Development
Community (SADC), found
South Africans
expressing the harshest
anti-foreigner sentiment
out of all proportion
to any other countries
in the region.

15. The rainbow nation now has a reputation for Xenophobia.

24. Victimised
The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR), found
that 87% of police officers in the Johannesburg area believed that
most undocumented immigrants are involved in crime.

25. Many refugees, particularly Zimbabweans, report being victimised,
threatened, assaulted and robbed by South African officials.

26. Go Home!
Human Rights Watch reports immigrants from Malawi,
Zimbabwe and Mozambique have been targeted
for physical assault under a campaign known as
Buyelekhaya ("Go back home").

28. which blamed foreigners for unemployment.
Some of the incidents they reported from 2008
include:

29. Scapegoats
A Mozambican and two Senegalese were thrown out of a moving train
by a group returning from a rally in Alexandra township that
blamed foreigners for unemployment.

30. No Zimbabweans!
Residents in Zandspruit demanded that all Zimbabweans leave their
area and then forcibly evicted them and burned down their homes.

31. “Destructive forces are at work in the city;
threats and lies never leave its streets.” Psalm 55:11

34. No Immigrants!
In Olievenhoutbosch, Zimbabweans were attacked and killed
and their belongings set alight amidst demands by the locals
that police remove all immigrants from the area.

35. "These foreigners
disrespect
our culture,
they don’t speak
our language,
they take our women
and they take
our jobs!"

36. Somali Businessmen Targeted
Over 47 Somali refugees were murdered in two months as part of a
campaign to drive Somali traders out of townships in the Western Cape.

46. "These foreign people come to South Africa with nothing, but tomorrow
he has cash, third day he owns a shop and fourth day he has a car.
Where do these foreign people get this money from?"

47. Jobs for Us – Not for You!
Local people attacked immigrants from Malawi, Zimbabwe , Angola,
Congo, Nigeria, Somalia and Mozambique.
"Because the foreigners are taking away our jobs!"

48. Statistics South Africa Quarterly Labour Force
Survey reports that officially
4.6 million South Africans are unemployed,
25% of the workforce.

49. However, realistically they stated that
36.7% are actually unemployed in South Africa.

50. Fleeing Oppression
Zimbabweans point out that the reason why over half
of the population of Zimbabwe have fled their country

51. is because
of the
oppression
of Robert
Mugabe's
ZANU-PF
regime,
which is
supported by
the
South African
ANC
government.

52. "The solution is to stop supporting the tyrant Mugabe
who is destroying our country and we will return
to our homes and farms in Zimbabwe."

53. Economic Suicide of Zimbabwe
In 2005, Mugabe launched Operation Murambatsvina ("Drive out the
filth"), which destroyed the homes of over 1.5 million Zimbabweans.

54. This was in retaliation to these areas voting
against the ruling party in the elections.

55. Zimbabwe has committed national suicide by destroying the
commercial farms, which had not only fed the country, but provided the
largest amount of foreign exchange, employed over a million people
and provided homes for more than 2.5 million Zimbabweans.

56. Instability
Fuels
Xenophobia
The unprecedented influx
of Zimbabweans
running away
from the collapse
of their country
has placed greater strain
on South Africa, which has
received most of these
displaced people.

57. Instability in Zimbabwe has led to greater social pressures
and tensions in South Africa.

58. Positive Influence
A major solution to the fierce competition for jobs and services
in South Africa would be to help re-establish stability
and freedom North of the border.

60. In this age of globalisation, the ripple effects of instability
in one country affects its neighbours.

61. Dictatorships Produce Refugees
The violence, insecurity of property and oppression in the Congo,
Angola and other parts of Africa,

62. fuels the flood of refugees and immigrants pouring into South Africa
and places ever-increasing strain on the limited infrastructure,
resources and job market.

67. "They promise them freedom, while they
themselves are slaves of depravity…" 2 Peter 2:19

68. Evolutionism Breeds Racism

69. However, those who hold to
Darwin’s theory of evolution, have
no objective basis with which to counter racism.

70. In fact, Darwinian evolutionism has inspired a whole host of
racist ideologies and movements, especially communism.

71. The actual title of Darwin’s famous evolutionary book is: “On
The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The
Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.”

72. Evolution
Leads to
Revolution

73. Karl Marx wanted to dedicate Das Kapital to Charles Darwin and wrote
“Darwin’s book is very important and serves me as a
basis in the natural sciences for the historical class
struggle.” “Violence is the midwife”

74. as Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin so succinctly put it:
“evolution leads to revolution!”

75. Darwin and Marx were Racists

76. Both Darwin and Marx expressed racist views. It is ironic that so many
Russians and Africans have held Marxist and evolutionary beliefs because
Darwin taught that the “advanced races” should “exterminate” the
primitive races in order to speed up evolutionary progress!

77. Karl Marx himself despised the Slavs and Blacks, writing that
they were “frozen at pre-civilisation levels” and would never
make any contribution to history! (Karl Marx – the Racist, 1978;
Understanding The Times, David Noebel, 1991;
Marx and Satan, Richard Wurmbrand).

78. Discrimination and Antagonism

79. The Oxford English
Dictionary defines
racism as:
“…discriminati
on against or
antagonism
towards other
races.”

80. Hypocritical Racists

81. Yet many who speak out vitriolicaly against racism, are themselves
racist, displaying intense antagonism towards people of other races
and advocating policies which discriminate on the basis of race.

82. Character or Colour?

83. These are many
of the same
people who would
idolise Martin
Luther King(Jnr),
but who are not
willing to live
by his maxim:
that
people should
be judged by
the content of
their character,
not by the
colour of their
skin.

84. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put
darkness for light and light for darkness… who are wise
in their own eyes… who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
but deny justice to the innocent…they have rejected
the Law of the Lord Almighty…” Isaiah 5:20-24

85. Murderous Manipulations

86. Frustrated people are easily manipulated by mesmerizing slogans sold
by murderous hate mongers. One of the easiest ideas to sell anyone
is that he is better than someone else.

87. The holocaust in Rwanda where mobs of Hutus slaughtered
over 800,000 Tutsi Christians, is just one example
of the destructive power of tribalism in Africa in recent years.
More people were killed with machetes in six weeks in Rwanda, than
have been killed by nuclear weapons in all of history.

88. Media Marketing of Hate

89. In the month and weeks leading up to the holocaust in Rwanda
the state radio RTLM denigrated all Tutsis as
“foreigners”: “Hamitic invaders”, “cockroaches”, “racist supremacists”;
who needed to be “returned to Ethiopia”

90. by having their bodies thrown into the Nyabarongo River.

91. Wild rumours were
recklessly spread by
RTLM accusing the
Tutsis of sinister plots.
The MRND
government bluntly
asserted: “every
Batutsi is dishonest”
and “the Bahutu
should stop having
mercy on the Batutsi.”

92. The state media editorialised that the Bible instructs
you to kill snakes and “all Tutsis are snakes!”

93. Newspeak in Rwanda

94. This fanatical
extremism was not on
the fringes of society,
but was
propagated by
top leaders of the
MRND government
and by the Anglican
and Roman Catholic
hierarchies.

95. Popular poet and songwriter, Simon Bikindi composed songs which
provoked Hutus to hate their Tutsi neighbours. Extremists toured the
country to incite racial hatred against the Tutsi. New terms were
popularized: “clearing the bush” which originally had referred to
clearing land for cultivation, came to mean killing Tutsi’s.

96. “Interahamwe”,
which used to mean
communal work
parties now came to
mean mobs who
would hunt out and
kill the Tutsi.
Even the term
“work” itself now
came to mean the
task of killing!

97. State Sponsored Hate

98. In my book,
Holocaust In Rwanda,
I quote some examples
of this extremist
ideology propagated
by senior government
officials.

99. Here are the words of MRND Vice President Dr. Leon Mugesera:
“the Tutsi are inyenzis (cockroaches)… what are we waiting
for to decimate these families…? They have no right to live…

100. eliminate these people…destroy them.
No matter what you do, do not let them get away.”
After the holocaust Leon Mugesera fled to Canada.

101. Inflammatory
Reporting

102. In the run up to the genocide Radio
Television Libre Des Milles Collines
(RTLM) broadcast inflammatory stories
and twisted all news to have
an anti-Tutsi angle:
“they are cockroaches from
cockroaches who speak for
cockroaches”;
“the Tutsis need to be killed”;
“hunt out the Tutsi…”;
“who will fill the half empty graves?”;
“take your spears, clubs, guns, swords,
stones, everything, sharpen them, hack
them, those enemies, those
cockroaches…” ;
“like a mad dog you have to beat it up,
and up and up…”

103. Mobilising Mass Murder

104. By totally dominating the mass media, the Hutu extremists were able to
mould minds and fill them with hatred and a lust for blood.
The MRND ruling party planned and promoted the systematic
annihilation of the Tutsi minority from as early as 1990.

105. The pattern of the killings reveals that the massacres were meticulously
organised in advance. Most of the victims were slaughtered
inside church buildings, hospitals, and schools.
I walked knee deep in corpses in the church at Ntarama.

106. At the Kigali Hospital over 7,000 corpses had to be removed before the
hospital could be reopened.

109. Hatred

110. Racism has been described as
“the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.”

111. H.G. Wells noted that racism
“justifies and holds together more baseness, cruelty and abomination
than any other sort of error in the world.”

112. Double Standards

113. It is disturbing how many African leaders, while ostensibly opposing
racism, support one of the most vitriolic racists on the continent today:
Robert Mugabe.

114. Despite Zimbabwean dictator, Robert Mugabe, being guilty
of some of the most vicious racism,
with a disastrous policy of state sponsored terrorism,

115. the stealing and looting of farms and businesses, the murder of farmers
and opposition members, terrorizing of Supreme Court justices,

116. the ANC government of South Africa have steadfastly refused to criticise
Mugabe.
bombing of opposition newspaper offices, imprisoning of critics and
reckless promotion of racial hatred against whites,

117. National Suicide in Zimbabwe

118. The crisis in Zimbabwe is severe.
The worst inflation in the history of the world.

119. People are dying of starvation in a man-made famine, orchestrated by
the ZANU-PF government of Mugabe. Over 5,000 productive white
commercial farms have been seized by government organised mobs.

120. Vast herds of cattle and wildlife have been slaughtered.
Crops and stores burned.

121. Farmhouses looted. Many people beaten or murdered. One of the most
productive agricultural economies in Africa has been systematically
destroyed, because of fanatical racial hatred.

122. Not only did these
farms feed the entire
nation, but they also
exported food
providing the highest
percentage of foreign
exchange earnings for
the country. These
commercial farms
were also the highest
employers of labour in
the country and
provided homes for up
to 4 million farm
workers and their
dependants.

123. Racial Scapegoats

124. When the president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, needed a scapegoat
for his failed socialism, he played the race card, declaring:
“farmers are enemies of the state!... We have degrees in violence!...
those farmers who resist will die!”

125. Supporting a Racist Dictatorship in Zimbabwe

126. Yet, despite blatant fraud in elections, and tens of thousands of
human rights abuses documented,

127. many ANC leaders in South Africa have evidenced an obscene
infatuation with and warmth towards the violent dictatorship of Robert
Mugabe in Zimbabwe. “Whoever says to the guilty, you are innocent –
peoples will curse them and nations denounce them.” Proverbs 24:24

128. Racism and Hypocrisy

129. It is evident that this
blind support for
Mugabe is inspired,
in large part, by racial
prejudice. Despite
Mugabe engineering
one of the most
“spectacular economic
collapses of history”
with his national
suicide of Zimbabwe,

130. all too many political leaders support him – irrespective of the
lawlessness and savagery afflicting the population of Zimbabwe. Despite
half the population of Zimbabwe having voted with their feet by fleeing
the country, many in the African Union have evidenced both racism
and hypocrisy in enthusiastically applauding Mugabe.

131. This racism and hypocrisy was particularly evident at the UN
World Summit on Sustainable Development. While Mugabe supporters
were slaughtering endangered wildlife and destroying huge forests
and game reserves in Zimbabwe, Mugabe was being applauded
with standing ovations as a key note speaker!

132. “How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field
be withered? Because those who live in it are wicked,
the animals and birds have perished.” Jeremiah 12:4

133. Oppression

134. Under Mugabe’s racist regime tens of thousands of Matabele tribesmen
were massacred even judges have been assaulted by mobs in their
chambers in court, journalists and editors have been arrested and
tortured, pastors have been arrested for praying for peace and justice,
and the only independent daily newspaper and radio station in
Zimbabwe were blown up.

135. Supporting What They Claim to Oppose

136. How can anybody in the ANC ever again speak against the racial
discrimination of “apartheid South Africa” when they have instituted
their own racial discrimination through Affirmative Action and
Black Economic Empowerment, job reservations and racial quotas
in South Africa?

137. And when they are so enthusiastically supportive of Robert Mugabe’s
vicious racism in Zimbabwe?

138. And when they
enthusiastically
support Julius
Malema’s crude
racism and hate
speech?
And when they
happily sing
“Kill the Boer!
Kill the
farmer!”

139. even while over 3,000 white commercial farmers have been murdered –
in the most torturous and brutal ways?

140. And when thousands of Zimbabwe refugees in South Africa have been
attacked, then homes burned and many killed, in Xenophobic attacks?

142. In many ways we now have worse race relations today with
Affirmative Action than we even had in the past with apartheid.
Many white people consistently opposed the discrimination of
apartheid and spoke up for blacks that were victims of injustice.

143. However, there have been comparatively few black people who
have spoken up against the brutal murder of over 3000

144. and the massive injustices being perpetrated against the white
minority in the name of Affirmative Action today.

145. To many people it would seem that Affirmative Action in SA is
nothing other than a cover for corruption on an unprecedented
scale. Everywhere else in the world Affirmative Action is on behalf
of the minority. Only in South Africa is Affirmative Action against
the minority and for the majority!

146. In the face of the racism, xenophobia and hate speech evidenced in
Robert Mugabe’s national suicide in Zimbabwe and the ANC Youth
League president Julius Malema’s “Kill the Boer!” slogan and songs,
what is the Biblical response?

147. Recognising Reality

148. We need to recognise that crime and violence, corruption and malice
are symptoms of our society’s rebellion against the Laws of God.

149. “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but
rather expose them.” Ephesians 5:11

150. “Then you will
know the truth and
the truth will set
you free.”
John 8:32

151. Exposing Evil

152. The scourge of animism, tribalism, the Islamic slave trade, genocidal
clan warfare and the legacy of Marxist hatred needs to be exposed.

153. “Who will rise up for Me against the evildoers? Who will stand up for
Me against the workers of iniquity?” Psalm 94:16

155. “Am I now trying to
win the approval of
men, or of God?
Or am I trying to
please men?
If I was still trying to
please men, I would
not be a servant of
Christ.”
Galatians 1:10

156. The Only
Solution
Only Biblical Christianity
offers a rational basis for
opposing racism and
xenophobia, and for
pursuing justice.

157. Creation Leads to Respect for Life

158. The Biblical doctrine of Creation where people are
made in the image of God (Acts 17:26);

159. and of
Redemption
undermine
racism,
xenophobia and
hate speech.
Regeneration
gives a person a
new life
with new
desires.

160. "You
shall not
follow
a crowd
to do
evil."
Exodus 23:2

162. As the Apostle Peter
declared:
"We must
obey God
rather than
men!"
(Acts 5:29).

163. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Psalm 111:10

164. "Therefore do not be partakers with them." Ephesians 5:7

165. “They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome
them because He is the Lord of lords and King of kings – and with Him
will be His called, chosen and faithful followers.”
Revelation 17:14

166. Equality before
the law is a
Biblical principle:

167. “The community is to have the same rules
for you and for the alien living among you;
this is a lasting ordinance
for the generations to come.

168. You and the alien
shall be the same
before the Lord.
The same laws
and regulations
will apply
both to you
and to the alien
living among you."
Numbers 15:15-16

169. "Do not pervert
justice; do not
show partiality to
the poor, or
favouritism to the
rich, but judge
your neighbour
fairly."
Leviticus 19:15

170. The Greatest Commandment

171. "Love the Lord your
God with all your
heart and with all
your soul and with
all your mind and
with all your
strength… love your
neighbour as
yourself."
Mark 12:30-31

172. Our Lord Jesus Christ
taught us to observe
the Golden Rule:
“And just as you
want men to do to
you, you also do to
them likewise.”
Luke 6:31
The Golden Rule

173. Jesus even taught His
followers to:
“Love
your enemies,
do good to those
who hate you,
bless those who
curse you and pray
for those who
despitefully
use you…”
Luke 6:27-28
Love Your Enemies

174. The Biblical solutions to
racism, xenophobia and
hate speech are found
in the Doctrine of
Creation,
The Greatest
Commandment,
The Golden Rule,
The Parable of the
Good Samaritan and
The Great
Commission.

175. After rising from the dead, and before ascending into Heaven, the Lord
Jesus Christ gave His followers the Great Commission:
“All authority has been given to Me in Heaven and on Earth.
Go therefore and disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the
Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching
them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo I am
with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20
The Great Commission

176. Because of these and other
Scriptural commands, Christians
like St Patrick,
Boniface,
William Wilberforce,
John Newton, William Carey,
David Livingstone, Mary Slessor,
Lord Shaftsbury,
General Charles Gordon,
and so many others, worked
tirelessly to end the slave trade,
stop child labour and set the
captives free.
Amongst all the religions of the
world, only Christianity brought
an end to the slave trade.
Christian Love in Action

177. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

178. All this is from God who reconciled us to Himself through
Christ and gave us the ministry of Reconciliation:

179. That God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ…
and He has committed to us the message of Reconciliation."
2 Corinthians 5:17-19

180. "For He Himself is our peace who has made the two
one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall
of hostility." Ephesians 2:14

181. Christians are commanded to love the foreigners
and aliens in our midst, to love our neighbour,
to be good Samaritans and do to others
what we would want them to do to us.
Love In Action

182. Who is My Neighbour?
When Jesus was challenged by a potentially xenophobic question:
Who is my neighbour? Our Lord specifically chose a Samaritan,
who was a foreigner, despised by the Jews of his day, as an example
(Luke 10:29-37).

183. The people of Israel were commanded to treat
foreigners with kindness, because they themselves
were once foreigners in Egypt (Exodus 22:21).

184. When King Herod sought to kill the infant Jesus,
Mary and Joseph fled with Him to Egypt.

185. Christian Response
The Christian response to Xenophobia is to love our
neighbour as ourselves, to do to them as we would
want to be done unto ourselves.

186. Not only opening
our church doors
to minister to foreigners
in our community,
but working to help them
establish freedom
and justice
in their own lands,
so that they will be able
to return to their homes
with hope for the future.

187. "Love the Lord your
God with all your
heart and with all
your soul and with
all your mind and
with all your
strength… love your
neighbour as
yourself."
Mark 12:30-31

189. FRONTLINE FELLOWSHIP
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214. Dr Peter Hammond
Reformation Society
P.O. Box 74
Newlands, 7725
Cape Town, South Africa
Tel: (021) 689 4480
Fax: (021) 685 5884
Email: info@ReformationSA.org
Website:
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