What Do Religions Teach About Immigrants and Foreigners?

Most religions have their own version of a creation story, designed to explain the origin of this earth and the purpose of life. Part of that creation account is often a narrative about the “first humans.” Whether you come from a tradition that speaks of Adam and Eve (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), Mashya and Mashyana (Zoroastrianism), Manu and Shatarupa (Hinduism), or Fuxi and Nüwa (Taoism and traditional Chinese myths), the idea of an ancient pair of “first humans” is commonplace.

The popularity of what some have termed “origin myths” (in the various religions) leads to questions about immigration. And, regardless of your personal views surrounding current questions regarding people who migrate from one nation to another, no one can legitimately question the fact that we are all the descendants of immigrants—as each of these “origin myths” suggest. If there was a “beginning” to the human race, then there had to be a “place of origin” for our species as well. Consequently, even if your family has lived in the same continent, country, state, or city for generations, they originally came from somewhere else. Which means, all of us are “immigrants” in the truest sense of the word.

So, what do the scriptures of the various world religions say about “immigration,” “foreigners,” or those who are perceived as “outsiders” (by the original inhabitants of a given nation, city, or place)? And do the teachings of ancient scripture on these matters have any bearing of how believers today should think about those who migrate from one location to another? While the reader will have to draw his or her own conclusions on how to apply what follows, it seems that the most ancient scriptural texts are pretty consistent on their opinions about immigration and what that means for believers.

Some of the Dharmic religions (e.g., Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism) speak in generic terms about the treatment of other human beings, but do not specifically mention “immigration.” Nonetheless, their counsel about how believers should treat others seems germane to the question of immigration. For example, the Upanishads (of Hinduism) declare that a man into whose house “enters” an outsider, but if that “guest remains without food,” then “all of the merit” of the householder is “destroyed.” (Katha-Upanishad, I:VIII.)

Commentators on this verse point out that, according to the ancient Vedic standards, “a guest” in one’s home or land “is the representative of God and should be received with reverence and honor.” Similarly, Buddhism’s Dhammapada states: “He who harms living beings is, for that reason, not an ariya (a Noble One).” (Dhammapada V:270) The emphasis here, as in the Hindu Upanishads, is that believers have a duty to other human beings—not only to avoid harming them, but to seek to “reverence and honor” those who are their guests. This seems to have obvious application to questions surrounding immigration.

Unlike the sacred texts of most world religions, the Abrahamic faiths seem to have the most detailed statements germane to this topic. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam’s holy books each address this subject on some level. Here are a few of the most prominent passages and what they teach about how immigrants should be perceived and received.

Judaism

In the Book of Leviticus (from the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh—as it is known), it explicitly speaks of how God’s people should treat “visitors” or “sojourners” who have migrated from a different land, and who are dwelling among “God’s people.” The Complete Jewish Bible (or CJB) states: “If a foreigner stays with you in your land, do not do him wrong. Rather, treat the foreigner staying with you like the native-born among you—you are to love him as yourself, for you were [once] foreigners in the land of Egypt; I am Adonai your God.” (Lev. 19:33-34)

This passage from the Torah (which is also part of the Christian canon) quotes the God of Israel telling His people that they need to remember that they were once immigrants in Egypt (and not treated so well while there). Consequently, knowing that was their own experience, they should treat immigrants with “love” and act towards them as though they were “born among” God’s people and as if they had as much right to dwell in that land as God’s own people do.

Elsewhere in the Jewish Tanak, YHWH similarly instructs His people “Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were [once] foreigners in Egypt.” (NIV Exodus 22:21) While the CJB translates the Hebrew for “foreigner” as “widow” or “orphan,” the most common reading of the Hebrew is a “foreigner,” a “stranger” not native to the local, or a “sojourner” (meaning a non-native “visitor”) in the land.

Thus, the God of Judaism offers pretty clear counsel to His people. If they encounter in their own land people who have immigrated from a different land, they should think back to their own difficult days as “immigrants” in Egypt and allow that to provoke in them a sense of connection with the “foreigner,” and also a sense of “love” and compassion that they themselves did not receive when they were migrants.

Christianity

For Christians, Jesus is sometimes seen as the ultimate “immigrant” or “foreigner.” He comes to us from a “foreign land” (i.e., heaven)—a land that surely had a different culture, language, morality, and standard of living than we enjoy here on earth. And how was He treated upon entering this “new land” (we call “mortality” or “earth”)? Anyone who knows the New Testament narrative, particularly that of the four gospels, knows that Jesus was treated terribly, and was ultimately put to death by those who did not like this “outsider.”

Jesus described His own experience as being like that of a “stranger” or immigrant in a foreign land. To those who loved Him, He said: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me.”

And then He added this even more shocking detail: “I was in prison and you visited me.” (NRSV Matthew 25:35-36) However, Jesus also spoke of others who treated Him in the exact opposite way, saying that they refused to offer Him food, drink, a welcome, clothing, or a visit. (See Matt. 25:42-43) He called those who rejected Him as a “stranger” or immigrant as the “accursed,” and He said they would inherit “eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (V:41)

Of course, Jesus is not the only source in the Christian canon to speak of those who were immigrants or foreigners, and to explain how believers in Christ should treat those who come from “other places.” The author of the Book of Hebrews counseled, “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” (NIV Heb. 13:2) There are a couple of curious facts about this verse of Christian scripture.

First, it encourages believers to “show hospitality” to the foreigner or “stranger” in their land—though the Greek means essentially to display a “love of strangers” when you encounter one who might be perceived as an “outsider.” The other significant concept in this passage is the author’s suggestion that, if you treat the “stranger” or immigrant in your land badly, you might inadvertently be abusing an “angel” or “messenger of God” that you assumed was some kind of mortal “outsider.” Thus, the passage cautions Christians to assume the best of everyone you meet, including the “stranger” or foreigner in your land, as they actually are one of God’s “own.”

Not surprisingly, the Apostle Paul—because of his extensive travel as an early Christian missionary—was often perceived as an immigrant, foreigner, or outsider. Indeed, as a Jew and Roman citizen, he visited Greece, preaching to the people of Athens. Hearing his accent, questioning his “foreign” teachings, and recognizing him as an “outsider,” some of the Athenians called him a “babbler” and asked, “What is he trying to say?” (Acts 17:18) They mocked him because he was clearly different than them; because he was unquestionably a “foreigner” with a different accent, different beliefs, and a different upbringing or cultural background.

This is but one example of many where Paul was perceived as a “foreigner” worthy of some measure of physical or verbal abuse because he was “different” from those whom he addressed. And yet, to the believers living in Ephesus, Paul explained that, for Christians, people of various lands are not to be seen as “foreigners and strangers” but as “fellow citizens” and essentially members of the same “household” (i.e., the “household of God”). Thus Paul, who had himself been repeatedly rejected for being the immigrant, taught Christians to not treat or perceive others as he had been treated or viewed.

As a people who were constantly seen as “foreign,” and as “outsiders,” early Christians knew much of what it felt like to be “sojourners” in a land in which they were not welcome. Thus, the New Testament often encourages or even commands that believers show hospitality to those of other religions, races, and nations. Like Jesus, major figures in the Christian canon (such as Paul) sought to teach believers the importance of erasing artificial human-made boundaries, preaching instead that belief in God made all people one.

Islam

As the third of the Abrahamic traditions, Islam’s scriptural text, the Qur’an, offers an insight or two into how practicing Muslims should view those outside their faith and from outside their homeland—wherever that may be. For example, in Sūrha 9 of the Qur’an, it advises Muslims, “And if any of the polytheists seeks your protection, grant him protection so that he may hear the word of Allâh, then conduct him to a place where he feels himself safe and secure.

That treatment is to be meted out to them because they are a people who have no knowledge of Islam.” (9:6, Abdul Mannan Omar Translation) Islamic commentators on this verse have interpreted it as counseling believers to allow “idolators” and non-Muslims protection while visiting (or passing through) from a foreign land, suggesting that they (if treated properly) might learn the truth about God and Islam and thereby be converted. (This is akin to something Paul taught to Christians in 1 Cor. 7:14.)

In another Sūrha of the Holy Qur’an, we read of believers in Medina who “show their affection to such as came to them for refuge, and…give them preference over themselves, even though poverty was their own lot” at a previous time in their lives. (59:9, Abdullah Yusuf Ali Translation) The example given here reminds those who are believers to help those who come to them for “refuge,” encouraging faithful Muslims to remember times in their own past when they were poor and needed some form of assistance.

The Qur’an’s message to believers is simply to accept into their community refugees, whether those migrants be Muslims or non-believers. The Qur’an not only suggests that, in doing so, a believing Muslim may earn some converts for Allah, but it also indicates that since all of us need help at some point, once we are stable in our own lives, we should be the “helpers” of Allah in blessing those in need who have come to us for “refuge.”

Conclusion

The majority of religious traditions teach their adherents the importance of respecting life. Many, such as the dharmic faiths, have as a central teaching the need to practice ahimsa (or “non-violence”) in actions, but also in words and thoughts. Thus, most major faith traditions will take the position that if someone from another country or community visits your own, you have a duty to treat them with love, respect, dignity, and honor.

While issues of “legal” vs “illegal” immigration are always outside of the focus of ancient scripture, the “command” to embrace, love, and even help those who immigrate or visit is consistent. Indeed, most religions teach that there are spiritual or salvific consequences for negating this sacred commandment.

One may take a variety of positions on how that “migration” or “immigration” should happen; but scripture is universal in the declaration that, if it does happen, believers must do their best to watch out for and aid those “foreigners” who walk among them.