{"id":9740,"date":"2016-10-20T09:10:02","date_gmt":"2016-10-20T16:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/?p=9740"},"modified":"2016-10-20T09:10:02","modified_gmt":"2016-10-20T16:10:02","slug":"egocentric-thinking-and-refugees-in-2016-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/egocentric-thinking-and-refugees-in-2016-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Egocentric Thinking and Refugees in 2016 America"},"content":{"rendered":"

Egocentric thinking results from the unfortunate fact that humans do not naturally consider the rights and needs of others…We do not naturally recognize our egocentric assumptions, the egocentric way we use information, the egocentric way we interpret data, the source of our egocentric concepts and ideas, the implications of our egocentric thought.\u00a0 We do not naturally recognize our self-serving perspective.<\/em><\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paul, Richard, and Linda Elder. The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking – Concepts and Tools<\/em>. 2014.<\/p>\n

\"stuandmen\"<\/a><\/p>\n

2015 was a transitional year in America when it came to the public\u2019s views about our nation\u2019s refugee resettlement program. Congress passed the first refugee legislation in 1948 following the admission of displaced Europeans from World War II. In the 1960\u2019s and 70\u2019s thousands of Cubans and Vietnamese came fleeing Communism.\u00a0 In the 1990s we saw many refugees come to this country from Africa and Eastern Europe.<\/p>\n

After September 11, 2001, there was a strong bias among our public against Arabic people living in this country.\u00a0 The horror of that day changed the way that many Americans view Muslims.<\/p>\n

In recent years, the conflict in Syria, the attack on our embassy in Libya, and the televised executions by ISIS have caused many Americans to rethink our nation\u2019s refugee resettlement program.<\/p>\n

This came to a climax on November 13, 2015 when perpetrators connected to ISIS took the lives of 130 people in Paris.\u00a0 Subsequent attacks by those sympathetic to ISIS in San Bernardino and Jacksonville were met with outcries among many to stop the flow of refugees into the United States.<\/p>\n

As I read the section about Egocentric Thinking in Paul and Elder\u2019s book, I could not stop applying this concept to the issue of refugees in America.\u00a0 Below are some of my thoughts connected to the outline found in The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

STATEMENT:\u00a0 The U.S. should shut down our refugee resettlement program.\u00a0 Not to do so would invite terrorists to infiltrate our nation.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s true because I believe it.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

I need to start off by saying that Americans (both on the left and on the right) who have a healthy fear of Islamic radicals are not crazy.\u00a0 There are areas of our world where women are stoned for unproven accusations, Christians are raped and beheaded, and gay men are thrown off of rooftops.\u00a0 Yet, the facts are undeniable that the vast majority of applicants for refugee resettlement are not approved by the U.N.\u00a0 For those that are recommended, the U.S. has rigorous vetting that often takes years.\u00a0 Only a small percentage of those who apply are ever approved to come to the U.S. The majority who are approved are women and children.<\/p>\n

It is much easier for an Islamic radical to come to the U.S. on a tourist visa or a student visa.\u00a0 Remember that most of the terrorists in Europe had European passports.\u00a0 Many of the 911 attackers had student visas.<\/p>\n

Even with these facts in clear sight, many Americans believe that refugees are a top threat to our national security.\u00a0 Their belief is based on their own logic.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s true because we believe it.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the 2016 election season, an unprecedented 16 Republican candidates were in the running for President.\u00a0 Most of them proposed a reduction or halting of refugees from Syria over security concerns.\u00a0 Many evangelical Christians in America align themselves with the Republican Party and began to mimic the concerns of their leaders.\u00a0 \u00a0This was not limited to Republicans.\u00a0\u00a0In 2015 some Democrats in Congress came out publicly against President Obama\u2019s plan to bring in more refugees from Syria.\u00a0 Our innate fear of refugees becomes justified when those we respect communicate those same fears.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s true because I want to believe it.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fear is a powerful motivator.\u00a0 The 2005 documentary and subsequent 2015 film, \u201cOur Brand is Crisis\u201d illustrates how fear can be a powerful factor in swaying public opinions (and elections). When fear is our motivator, we can look at the hordes of asylum seekers flooding into Europe and equate them with our very stringent system of screening and selecting only the best candidates for assimilation into the U.S. \u00a0The fact that the majority of refugees brought into the U.S. over the past 2 years were Christians does not seem to affect opinions. \u00a0We do not want to be seen as fools.\u00a0 For some, it is better to say \u201cno\u201d to all refugees for fear that there might be a bad apple.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s true because I have always believed it.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since September 11, 2001, many American\u2019s have come to the conclusion that \u201call Muslims are bad people.\u201d\u00a0 This thought might not be spoken, but it is a reality for some.\u00a0\u00a0 This has been brought up by media critics who notice that mass murderers who are white are labeled \u201cgunmen\u201d and mass murderers who are Middle Eastern are labeled \u201cterrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s true because it is in my selfish interest to believe it.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

I once heard pastor Bill Hybels compare churches to fitness clubs.\u00a0 When we find one we like, we get angry when January first rolls around and it becomes crowded with newcomers.\u00a0 \u00a0For many Americans, the idea of having new neighbors whose language, dress, or culture is different from them is not attractive.\u00a0 We see our country changing rapidly and are afraid that refugees will bring more rapid change.<\/p>\n

Yet as Christians, we can have a higher perspective.\u00a0 We can be people who look at the facts rather than the fear.\u00a0 We can influence our politicians, rather than being influenced by them.\u00a0 We can encourage our Christian brothers and sisters from Burma and the Congo who are coming as refugees to the U.S. by the thousands.\u00a0 We can share the love and message of Jesus Christ to Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and Atheist refugees who move into our neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

Last month, our church baptized a refugee with a Muslim background who had recently come to Christ.\u00a0 I am grateful to serve in a church where our people move beyond egocentric thinking and operate with \u201ckingdom thinking\u201d as they show the love of Jesus to these refugee families.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Egocentric thinking results from the unfortunate fact that humans do not naturally consider the rights and needs of others…We do not naturally recognize our egocentric assumptions, the egocentric way we use information, the egocentric way we interpret data, the source of our egocentric concepts and ideas, the implications of our egocentric thought.\u00a0 We do not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[925],"class_list":["post-9740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cocanougher-refugees-paul-elder","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9740\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}