Editorial: Don't let fear slam door on refuge

Refuge.

It is a place of solace and sanctuary. Shelter from the wind and weather. Protection from wolves and want. Refuge is safety.

So what do we do when it becomes less safe?

Mustafa Mousab Alowemer, 21, a refugee from Syria who has been here for three years, was charged Wednesday with planning a pro-ISIS attack on a small black Christian church, the Legacy International Worship Center, in Pittsburgh’s North Side. His lawyer called the alleged plot “puffery and bragging.”

It is easy to look at the charges and the man charged and see everything that is wrong with opening the doors to those fleeing hell in another country. When the Syrian refugee issue first rose, it was exactly this kind of threat that was on the minds of opponents. What if the refugees are the danger? What if they bring terrorism to our homes?

That is a rational question, and a reasonable fear.

But is it who we want to be? Go to any house of worship and you are likely to be told to feed the hungry and care for the traveler — to give shelter to those who have lost their home. We want to have those ideals, but we also have those questions and fears. How can we bring them into line?

We should ask the Legacy congregation.

On Oct. 28, 2018, they heard a sermon that no doubt echoed around the region , just one day after 11 people were murdered at the Tree of Life synagogue.

“It could have been us,” the woman on the altar said in a video of the service posted to the church’s Facebook page.

But they would continue to proclaim their faith, to open their doors and to serve, she continued. The congregation agreed.

Again, that’s easy to say. Words are cheap. Actions count.

And one day after Alowemer’s arrest, Legacy’s doors were open. There was prayer and song, and they welcomed practicing Muslims who came to stand with them in solidarity. They did not cower. They did not retreat.

We can do no less as a city or a state or a nation. We find our strength by showing that our strongest fortress is the laws we follow and the people that enforce them, like the FBI agents who disrupted what could have been tragedy.

The terrible coincidence of the arrest just before World Refugee Day makes it even easier to make foreigners the spotlight, to say “keep them out.”

But numbers are also reasonable and rational, and they tell us that the refugee vetting system works and that authorities interrupt more plots than ever succeed. Just as the FBI says you are more likely to be a victim of violence from someone you know than a stranger, as a nation we typically face more danger from natives than those who fled danger to find refuge.