The Christian case for taking in Syrian refugees

By Jason Russell, Jason Russell

Published December 20, 2015

It would be a shame if public policy were formed as a knee-jerk reaction to a tragic event. But that seems to be the nature of recent calls to ban Syrian refugees from coming to the United States. So far, there is no evidence any of the Paris attackers were refugees. In fact, there has never been an act of terrorism committed by a refugee in the U.S.

In September, a photo of three-year-old Alan Kurdi lying lifeless on a Turkish beach shocked the world. Kurdi's family had been trying to flee the Islamic State when their inflatable boat capsized en route from Turkey to Greece.

The lack of compassion for millions of Syrian refugees like Kurdi is astonishing.

Christians especially should sympathize with the plight of Syrian refugees. Jesus was at one point a refugee, after all — when his family fled to Egypt.