Religion, Forced Migration, and Humanitarian Response

Abstract

More than one in every hundred of the world’s population has experienced being forcibly displaced. Religion constitutes a key dimension of the experience of the vast majority of forced migrants, but humanitarian response—on the basis of its concern for neutrality and impartiality—has an uneasy relation with it. The secular framing of humanitarianism has come under sustained critique, encouraging a deeper understanding of the dynamics of local faith communities. Theological reflection within faith traditions speaks to both notions of hospitality among hosts and of life in exile among migrants. Dialogue with such reflection offers insight not only into the role of religion in the support of displaced communities but also in the reimagining of global polity in a complex, plural, post-secular age.