유럽 이주 무슬림 정착문제와 기독교 선교: 프랑스를 중심으로

Abstract

Serial terror incidents which took place in Paris on November 13, 2015 put the world into utmost horror. While terrors so far occurred around the world have been independent, these terror incidents carefully orchestrated in crowded residential areas in Paris took the death toll of 132 lives and it turned out that the criminals were 2nd -generation Moroccan immigrants in France. The terror incidents brought the problems of French immigration policies to the fore and researches are conducted on the’laïcité (separation of politics from religion)’ policy of the French government in the education and welfare field. The French government has taken a firm stance in the immigration policy based not on multiculturalism but on assimilation and the typical hard-liner is former president Nicolas Sarkozy. A hard-line right winger since he was Interior Minister, Sarkozy did not hesitate to use strong crackdown on 2nd-generation Muslim immigrants with violent abuses and police force. By enacting "Ban on Burka Act" in 2010, French government has been suppressing immigrants from Maghreb region of North Africa who have suffered from unemployment and social discrimination in France. Although "Ban on Burka Act" originally intended to secure respect for and freedom of women, currently it has more meaning for public security. Of course, France has established various social welfare systems and taken administrative measures on a national level. According to researches, however, they are only official administrative systems and gestures which lack the soul, genuineness and love. As France has welcomed immigrants from Maghreb region for their economic development and actually achieved growth, now is the time for it to grant legitimate rights to them and their children. The author of this study thinks that, in order to prevent social conflict, enmity and continuous terrors in France, it is important for the church to practice love of Jesus Christ in the way of communication prescribed in chapter 4 of John which Jesus practiced. It is to change the lives of Muslim immigrants who are stigmatized as problem children of the society with heart-felt communication and relationship building, not to make their living areas huge ghettos. Jesus Christ treated with respect the Samaritan woman at Sychar, who was reluctant to face Jews, and delivered gospel respectfully while responding sensitively to the woman. As the result, the woman came to face her identity squarely and experienced conversion of her life. This tells us the necessity of genuine communication in missionary work and importance of incarnate ministry. It is ministry which makes Muslim immigrants face their identity and confess that Jesus Christ is the Messiah with listener-centered communica- tion, not unilateral one. It also tells us about respectfully recognizing immi- grant Muslim’s ethnic identity and converting to multiculturalism, not assimilation. This is a different matter from recognition of Islamic religion. Like Jesus Christ who communicated and exchanged spiritual communion with the Samaritan woman at Sychar with respect, humane communication based on respect is required between French government and immigrants, not another institutional device. This kind of communication can be a strat- egy for evangelical missions. As Jesus Christ humbly set the example of incarnate mission, the church should respond sensitively to the needs of immigrants and spiritually and genuinely communicate with them to make them recognize that Jesus Christ is the very Savior of all humanity.