Jamel in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is a rural village in northeastern Germany, once part of Eastern Germany where being right-wing is the norm. A neo-Nazi leader, Sven Kruger, has become a de-facto village elder. Anyone who doesn’t share the right’s view is shunned, criticized or harassed in a number of ways. Horst and Birgit Lohmeyer bought a home in the village because it is within their price range unaware of what they were getting into. Their efforts to get the authorities involved have failed. A few months ago the vice president of Germany’s federal government visited the village and spent half an hour in their living room promising support in their fight against the neo-Nazis, but nothing happened and nothing has changed.
It looks like Jamel is more than just a village, it carries a message or at least raises the questions to help us figure out the message. Should neo-Nazis have a place to call their own? Ought they to have the right to their own views? Can they be allowed to be in a position where their views can influence others and be imposed upon them? Could such a village occur in the U.S. or the U.K.?
January 2011
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More Than A Village
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Down in Alabama
Recently, the governor of Alabama made a speech in which he said that only Christians were his brothers and sisters. Right away he was assailed and had to have a meeting with Jewish and Moslem leaders and of course issued an apology for his statement reassuring everyone that he vowed to work with people of all faiths. No one, as far as I can tell, praised his honesty. In an age when politicians try to fit into the mold of what they think their potential voters will want to hear, I find the governor’s willingness to say what he thinks and what he believes refreshing. It’s difficult to believe that his Christian beliefs are a novelty, that this is the first time he alludes to them. I would suspect that they are known to his constituency and may lie behind their voting for him. If I’m somewhat correct, it could be that the problem is not in what he said but that what is said is widely believed by those who elected him.
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Remembering The Migrants
To be an immigrant is difficult enough, to be a migrant is a fate that is often at the forefront of my compassion. There are 250 million migrants in the world, usually in search of work, or safety or better conditions. They brave hardships foreign to most of us, in addition to conditions which bring out racism, sexism, and the consequences of ethnic and political tensions. Because of their status, they often have no churches to go to or to cater to their needs. Finally, Churches are beginning to be sensitive to what those needs and problems may be. At a recent meeting in the Netherlands, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order, their program on Just and Inclusive Communities, the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism along with the Ecumenical Network on Multicultural Ministry and Mission organized what they called an international consultation. They will prepare a statement for the WCC next assembly in South Korea in 2013. It may not seem like much, and it really isn’t, and yet it stands to make a difference because at last the issue is recognized as a challenge to how the churches sees themselves as well as their mission to migrants.