Allow me to raise a question. Why do we erect walls to keep people out, when no wall ever survived the relentless drama of history? The Walls of Troy were ridiculed by a wooden horse. The impregnable Walls of Babylon, along which chariots raced, were torn down for home bricks. Hadrian built his Wall to protect an empire that crumbled as he rode away. The Great Wall of China might be seen from the Moon, yet today offers Subway sandwiches to hungry tourists. The Berlin Wall was breached by freedom and its debris boxed and bottled as quirky souvenirs.
The fate of every wall is to be abandoned and, eventually, lie in ruins. The same will happen to the wall of Israel, the fence of Mexicali and the Greek border barrier. These are short-term measures that fail to tackle the root of impoverished migration. Walls are divisive and inhuman. This Folly of walls segregates and symbolizes an alienation repugnant in a caring society.
These are bewildering times for Christians as uncertainty shakes our confidence. However, to tolerate social evils – while timidly protesting in the name of justice – is equivalent to condoning their effects and perpetuating their survival. We are either enriched by an appreciation that every human being is a Temple of God, or we risk climbing mountains of discrimination without summits. Unlike other beliefs, Christianity doesn’t endorse the false harmony of secular structures at the expense of dignity. One observation flows from this – core principles promote change by emphasizing an antinomy between God’s Will and human aspiration … between the Kingdom of God and the nations of men … between the desires of the rich and the demands of the poor. When it becomes weak and unhealthy, the entire musculature of Christian faith seizes with spasm of shame. Certainly, there is disgrace wherever the Few enjoy lives of ease at the expense of the Many who were unfortunate enough to be born outside bubbles of affluence.
It is scarcely accidental that when Faith meets the challenge of its opposite, we discover its transcendental strength. What then is asked of us Christians? Not simply to believe in justice as an abstract ideal, not only to promote social equality as a concept, but to passionately endorse a Christian reality where every person is received as we would graciously welcome Christ! This is an urgent demand to renew our code of conduct, our interpersonal fidelity and our community trust. True faith challenges us to embrace a fundamental attitude – treat everyone in our multiracial, multiethnic and multicultural society not as aliens, but guests, not as strangers, but friends and, where possible, even family. Only then can we combat the social injustice and racial prejudice that feed this shameful building of walls. Or else, one day, we might be dismayed to learn that those walled outside by the construction are our family.
