Many have already commented on the government's separating children from their parents when they come seeking asylum at the southern border.
Many have noted that it is immoral to take children from their parents, often literally pulling them from their arms, and taking them someplace where nobody knows. Not even the government seems to know where these kids have been taken, and the parents have no way of knowing if they will ever see their kids again.
Many have said all these things, and I have thought I would most appropriately say nothing at all since others have said it so well.
Except, to be silent is to assent to the act, and I can't do that. Worse yet, Attorney General Jeff Sessions quoted scripture out of context in order to justify this abomination.
So, let me lay out my reasons for condemning this practice.
First, the stated reason for it in the first place is to discourage people from coming to this country and bringing their children.
Let's ask a simple question: Why would anyone come here especially in the current environment of animosity toward immigrants (whether with our without documentation)? Wealthy foreigners are NOT coming, at least not in they numbers used to. For example, there has been a marked decrease in foreign students studying in the US. Why? Because we have become an unfriendly country, and those who don't HAVE to come here are choosing other, nicer places.
So those who do come are doing so because they don't see much choice. They are coming here because they fear for their lives. The drug cartels, the gangs, the militias make life untenable. They are also coming here because they can't feed their families thanks to horrible economic conditions. No parent wants to subject their child to dangerous conditions on a grueling trek toward an uncertain reception in a new country. They do it because the alternative is so horrible.
They come seeking refugee status. Sure, they don't have papers. Is that surprising? We don't let the poor into this country. We don't like refugees. We don't allow the "least of these" as Jesus called them to sully our shores. We would never let them here legally. So their only option, if they want to keep their kids alive, is to break the immoral law.
At this point, we need to go back to Jeff Sessions. To justify the separation of children from their parents, he quoted from Romans 13: "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God." Quite aside from the fact that people used that quote to justify slavery, and genocide (the Nazis loved it), there are three problems with it.
1) Jeff Sessions and those who are taking these children from their parents did NOT subject themselves to the previous administration. They did everything they could to destroy it. They did not obey nor did they respect. So to think others should give them that courtesy is hypocritical and foolish.
2) Respect and obedience to the law of our land does not necessitate separating children from their parents. Nor does it justify it. Ever. If they really wanted to be mean, they could simply send the families - together - back over the border. This is by every definition cruel (no parent could tolerate it), and unusual (no other country in the world does this) punishment. That makes it unconstitutional as well as immoral.
3) Jeff Sessions and others in the administration are proof texting, picking just the words they want you to hear. The entire chapter says a little bit more. For example, Romans 13:10 says, "Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." No parent would ever say this policy is an act of love.
Let me add another thought to this. Why is Jeff Sessions (not to mention Sarah Sanders) citing scripture at all? What Paul has to say on the matter of governments is totally irrelevant to our national policies. We are not a theocracy and should not be acting as if we were.
Oh, and while I'm not international law scholar, I believe this behavior violates international law - which would be a little ironic since the US has signed on to obey these laws and now chooses (once again) to ignore them. Apparently, you only have to obey the laws you like.
As a pastor, as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I can assure you (though you've probably already made up your mind, and nothing I say will sway you) - there is nothing in our faith that allows this. Nothing in Christianity that says this is all right. Nothing humane or just about it.
You may not like undocumented people coming across our borders. You may be afraid of them. You may think we need to vet them better. Or you may just not like people with dark skin who have difficulty with English.
If that's you, you should be assured that immigrants from south of the border have never been involved in a terrorist action (that's usually home-bred folks - mostly white men - or people who came here legally and were radicalized right here). Immigrants have not taken jobs from Americans but have boosted the economy. Yes, they have darker skin - get used to it because this country is no longer majority white. And yes, like the Germans, the Italians, the French, the Swedes, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Koreans, the Indians and Ghanaians and Egyptians and everyone else before them ... it takes a generation before English becomes first nature. That's what this country is made of.
Even if you don't want these refugees here under any circumstances, taking children from their parents in this way is simply wrong. Locking little children in tent cities and the equivalent of cages is evil. It is sin. It must stop.
Those of us who claim to follow Jesus Christ know that we do not have the luxury to be quiet. If you are Christian, then contact your congressional representatives and demand that they put a stop to this abomination.
Many have noted that it is immoral to take children from their parents, often literally pulling them from their arms, and taking them someplace where nobody knows. Not even the government seems to know where these kids have been taken, and the parents have no way of knowing if they will ever see their kids again.
Many have said all these things, and I have thought I would most appropriately say nothing at all since others have said it so well.
Except, to be silent is to assent to the act, and I can't do that. Worse yet, Attorney General Jeff Sessions quoted scripture out of context in order to justify this abomination.
So, let me lay out my reasons for condemning this practice.
First, the stated reason for it in the first place is to discourage people from coming to this country and bringing their children.
Let's ask a simple question: Why would anyone come here especially in the current environment of animosity toward immigrants (whether with our without documentation)? Wealthy foreigners are NOT coming, at least not in they numbers used to. For example, there has been a marked decrease in foreign students studying in the US. Why? Because we have become an unfriendly country, and those who don't HAVE to come here are choosing other, nicer places.
So those who do come are doing so because they don't see much choice. They are coming here because they fear for their lives. The drug cartels, the gangs, the militias make life untenable. They are also coming here because they can't feed their families thanks to horrible economic conditions. No parent wants to subject their child to dangerous conditions on a grueling trek toward an uncertain reception in a new country. They do it because the alternative is so horrible.
They come seeking refugee status. Sure, they don't have papers. Is that surprising? We don't let the poor into this country. We don't like refugees. We don't allow the "least of these" as Jesus called them to sully our shores. We would never let them here legally. So their only option, if they want to keep their kids alive, is to break the immoral law.
At this point, we need to go back to Jeff Sessions. To justify the separation of children from their parents, he quoted from Romans 13: "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God." Quite aside from the fact that people used that quote to justify slavery, and genocide (the Nazis loved it), there are three problems with it.
1) Jeff Sessions and those who are taking these children from their parents did NOT subject themselves to the previous administration. They did everything they could to destroy it. They did not obey nor did they respect. So to think others should give them that courtesy is hypocritical and foolish.
2) Respect and obedience to the law of our land does not necessitate separating children from their parents. Nor does it justify it. Ever. If they really wanted to be mean, they could simply send the families - together - back over the border. This is by every definition cruel (no parent could tolerate it), and unusual (no other country in the world does this) punishment. That makes it unconstitutional as well as immoral.
3) Jeff Sessions and others in the administration are proof texting, picking just the words they want you to hear. The entire chapter says a little bit more. For example, Romans 13:10 says, "Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." No parent would ever say this policy is an act of love.
Let me add another thought to this. Why is Jeff Sessions (not to mention Sarah Sanders) citing scripture at all? What Paul has to say on the matter of governments is totally irrelevant to our national policies. We are not a theocracy and should not be acting as if we were.
Oh, and while I'm not international law scholar, I believe this behavior violates international law - which would be a little ironic since the US has signed on to obey these laws and now chooses (once again) to ignore them. Apparently, you only have to obey the laws you like.
As a pastor, as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I can assure you (though you've probably already made up your mind, and nothing I say will sway you) - there is nothing in our faith that allows this. Nothing in Christianity that says this is all right. Nothing humane or just about it.
You may not like undocumented people coming across our borders. You may be afraid of them. You may think we need to vet them better. Or you may just not like people with dark skin who have difficulty with English.
If that's you, you should be assured that immigrants from south of the border have never been involved in a terrorist action (that's usually home-bred folks - mostly white men - or people who came here legally and were radicalized right here). Immigrants have not taken jobs from Americans but have boosted the economy. Yes, they have darker skin - get used to it because this country is no longer majority white. And yes, like the Germans, the Italians, the French, the Swedes, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Koreans, the Indians and Ghanaians and Egyptians and everyone else before them ... it takes a generation before English becomes first nature. That's what this country is made of.
Even if you don't want these refugees here under any circumstances, taking children from their parents in this way is simply wrong. Locking little children in tent cities and the equivalent of cages is evil. It is sin. It must stop.
Those of us who claim to follow Jesus Christ know that we do not have the luxury to be quiet. If you are Christian, then contact your congressional representatives and demand that they put a stop to this abomination.
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