“Loving a stranger is not a footnote in the Scripture, but an affirmation of our belief in God,” said Dr Torsten Moritz, General Secretary of the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME). He made these comments in his presentation titled “Our common European values - are they drowning in the Mediterranean?” at a conference on European Values and Migration in Helsinki, Finland on 23 October 2019.

The conference brought together representatives of Finnish churches, civil society, academia and governments. The event was organised by the Evangelical Lutheran church of Finland and hosted in the Europe House, representation of the European Commission and European parliament in Finland.

Speakers at the conference elaborated on the policy context as well as the specific contribution of Christian and other faiths in addressing migration. The tension between Christian values and current migration policies was highlighted.

The event preceded the European Migration Network (EMN) Conference “From Tampere 20 to Tampere 2.0.” from 24 to 25 October, also in Helsinki. The EMN was held on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the European Council in Tampere, which outlined the future EU asylum and migration policy in 1999 as well as the current Finnish EU Council presidency.

The issue of values in integration was also highlighted in an interfaith panel during the EMN conference, chaired by the Finnish Lutheran Archbishop Dr Tapio Luoma.

Read more about the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe