What’s wrong with this?In God’s eyes, there is no documented or undocumented, there is no legal or illegal, there are only his children. For evidence, look to the Torah, which mentions the importance of welcoming the foreigner in our midst more than 15 times.
Our inability to welcome the foreigner is creating division among us as brothers and sisters – among God’s children. As a result, people are hopeless, and there is injustice in our land – injustice that in our fear and ignorance we allow to happen.
I believe that God calls us to love all in the face of the fear and the injustice. We are people of faith, and we are called to sing the Lord’s song, and it is a song of hope. I am mindful of this call as our government engages in the debate on the future of immigration reform, which will affect an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants.
I’ll tell you what’s wrong with it. Take out the references to illegal immigrants and rewrite this thing to condemn abortion or homosexual marriage and you will be accused of inserting the Christian religion where it has no business. Imposing your morality, establishing a religion, call it what you will. And Uncle Sam don’t roll like that.
We are told over and over that the United States is not a Christian nation and never was. Fine. That being the case, either keep your reading of Christian principles out of public policy debates or keep your mouth shut when other people cite their reading of Christian principles in support of initiatives you oppose.
And that's why we like Mr. Johnson over here at Est Quod Est.
Why is he still Episcopal? Not that he'd get away from that kind of goofy thinking on immigration policy if he became a Papist. But we are Pro-life at least.
I'll tell you some more what's wrong with it:
ReplyDeleteThere is no Nation in history that loves God's children more than the USofA. No other nation was founded and still operates on the principle that all are created equal and endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights. There is no other nation now, nor ever, that has welcomed the foreigner more than the USofA. Foreigners here are not here to supply the labor that, say, Frenchmen won't do. Immigrants here become (and are expected to become) part of our culture, and to succeed at what they do.
You want an example? Look at the Vietnamese who came here anyway after we abandoned them in their fight against tyranny (or, as John Kerry figures, after the good guys won).
But as we devolve into cradle-to-grave nannyism, many foreigners are coming here by the dark of night to abuse our goodness (you want anecdotes? I've got a few for you), and many in government are abusing those illegal immigrants to soldify their power. Call out those people, Most High Rev. Witt, why dontcha? They are the ones showing a lack of love of God's children.
You are exactly correct. Witt's line of argument is based on faulty logic and false premises. The idea that "we" possess an "inability to welcome the foreigner" is demonstrably false. The insinuation that hopelessness and injustice are somehow results only of immigration policy is plain goofy. If I were in law enforcement, I would have no problem singing the Lord's song and enforcing policies simultaneously.
ReplyDeleteHe's not an Episcopalian anymore. The last time he set foot in an Episcopal church was 2003, about a week or so before Gene Robinson got his pointy hat. He's probably going to end up some kind of Anglican or other but nothing's off the table at this point. Damascus Roads and all that.
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Chris, what's the difference between Anglican and Episcopal? I thought they were the same. Anyway, I was wondering why *you* were still Episcopal. As I understood, Episcopal higher-ups have bought into every liberal idea of the last 100 years.
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