I found a really thought-provoking magazine article online that I thought sums up what the Christian's attitude ought to be regarding illegal immigration. I found it by way of a website that Burly (http://burlyfamily.blogspot.com) put on his blog.
In our family we are obviously pro-immigrant, even pro-illegal immigrant, and against illegal immigration, if that makes any sense at all. Kind of like saying we support the soldiers but not the war, I guess. My Mexican husband and I agree that if you can come here legally then you should. It makes things a lot easier for you in the long run. Just getting here means crossing through desert or swamp on foot for several days, watching out for the Arizona Minutemen or their counterparts, being careful not to step too close to a Western Diamondback rattler or scorpion, drinking water from mud puddles or troughs laden with cow spit, having no food, and that's all apart from Border Patrol (or as they call them, chiles verdes -- green chiles). Sometimes even being captured (rescued?) by Border Patrol is a welcome thing. So obviously it's a lot more comfortable to cross with a visa in hand. However, it is not always as simple as that. Not when it takes years to get a visa, and what do you do in the meantime with not enough money to survive?
Anyway, click on this link to read the article and tell me what you think:
http://www.worldmag.com/articles/11730
El pueblo unido jamás será vencido.
2 comments:
Hey, I have a comment and a question for you about the ongoing immigration debate. I know you've given a lot of thought & prayer to the issue, and that you have a great heart for immigrants and foreigners (and that you are married to Jesus!), so please forgive me if I come across harshly. That's not my intention.
My question is this: have you given thought to (and if so, then how do you) reconciling submitting to authorities with advocating immigration reform? Paul says in Romans 13 "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God."
With all the inflamed passions around, I am starting to doubt whether a Christian should be in the middle of the politics of this debate? "Do not cause your brother to stumble" (again, Paul, Romans 14). So, in addition to the question about submitting to the authorities, if our weaker brothers are stumbling because we advocate immigration freedoms / reforms, is that a good place for us to be?
That being said, I am very confident that the heart issue behind our position is fully correct and should never be compromised. We passionately pursue a just response to the racism, bigotry, classism, and pride that has marred the debate because we worship a God who is zealously just. We love immigrants because our hearts (and God's) break for the poor. "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." (James 1)
It pains me so much to realize that the primary sin issue at the core of the debate is selfishness. "Those immigrants are taxing our public infrastructure", or, "they are decreasing the quality of life in my neighborhood", or, (part of the response I got from Senator Burr of NC), "immigrants contribute to drunken-driving deaths" (which is ludicrous to imply that drunken-driving deaths would decrease if illegal immigrants are sent home.) So much of American society and culture is summed by one phrase: "perceived entitlement." Even the church has seemingly forgotten that health, home, family, privacy, heck even life itself, are gifts from God. "He giveth and taketh away." I think we'd both agree that if we swallowed our selfishness, we would see the plight of our brothers and welcome them in the name of Jesus.
Motivated by the heart, do you have any ideas how to enter the "backdoor" of this issue? I.e., what ways - besides prayer - are there to demonstrate God's love to immigrants outside the political arena?
Thanks, in advance, for what I know will be a thoughful reply :)
Hey, your letter from Sen. Burr sounds a lot like mine! Anyway...
I have given an enormous amount of thought to that very question. I have wrestled with it day and night to the point of emotional exhaustion, almost. I believe that every government exists for a reason and I don't want to give Jesus (God, not my husband) a bad name because of my stance on any issue. That being said, I think we as Christians have a responsibility to stand up to the gov't when it is wrong. (Whether it is deliberately wrong or just misguided is not my call.) We would stand up (or at least I hope we would) if Senate were going to pass a law making it a felony to be a Christian or carry a Bible.
I'm not saying our country has no right to protect its borders (even 1/3 of America used to be Mexico...) or deport someone who's here illegally. Compared to a lot of other countries, I know our INS/Border Patrol is peaches and cream. But I do think we need to walk a very fine line between mistreating our immigrant friends regardless of their status and enforcing our laws. Would people be so upset over illegal immigration if the immigrants were blond-haired blue-eyed English speakers??
One way I feel that we can obey Romans 13 and support immigration reform is to contact politicians etc. and state our position firmly but respectfully. It is so easy (and sometimes very tempting) to go on the offensive and turn things into attacks. But I think that would give Christ a bad name and wouldn't get us very far. We can state that we are Bible-believing Christians, then state what we believe and why. I'm drafting another letter to Sen. Burr right now that I've tried to write that way.
Apolitically, something I think we can do is have church ministries in which an English-speaking church is partnered with a Hispanic church, like a "sister church" sort of deal. Have dinners together, have basketball (better yet, soccer) tournaments together. I truly think that the more people get to know our immigrant friends as friends rather than brown faces "stealing our jobs", the fewer people will be out there clamoring for them to all get kicked out. As John Steinbeck says, "Get to know a man personally. It almost always leads to love. It almost never leads to hate."
Human nature being what it is, there will always be people of all races who think they are better than others in some way or another. I realize nothing is going to work 100% of the time for 100% of the people but I think those two things are a good start.
Regarding causing people to stumble...I hadn't ever looked at it that way. Honestly, though, I really think they stumbled holding the beliefs and attitudes. As with politicians, I would clearly and firmly state to someone what I believe and why but w/o being hateful about it. It's not up to me to change minds but it is up to me to state the truth. And, as always, our ultimate goal as Christians is (or ought to be) to point people to Christ.
I hope this at least partially answers your question! Please give me any more thoughts you may have. What conclusion did you come to?
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