Christians and Immigration Reform - by Pastor Brad
A couple days ago Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform held a news conference to remind us at Thanksgiving time of "the least of these" in our nation, many of whom are undocumented immigrants working for a better life....
The group's comprehensive report can be found through the link below:
http://www.sojo.net/action/alerts/CCIR_T_giving_Report.pdf
Jim Wallis of the Christian community called Sojourners mentioned in his remarks at the news conference three items that are worth recalling as Christians.
He quoted Leviticus 19:34 – "The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you; you shall love the stranger as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God." And he quoted Jesus - "I was a stranger and you welcomed me."
He's concerned that the tenor of the immigration reform debate is being dominated by anger and fear. He quotes an Arizona talk show host: "What we'll do is randomly pick one night every week where we will kill whoever crosses the border ... step over there and you die. You get to decide whether it's your lucky night or not. I think that would be more fun." No, it wouldn't be fun, counters Wallis. "And that kid of talk poisons the body politic. We have to stand up against talk like that." So the way we talk about the issue is important.
In some places where new legislation is passed, Oklahoma being an example, even assisting people who are undocumented is being questioned. "When you're reaching out to hurting people, you don't check their papers," says Wallis. "That's not our job. We don't do government's job for the government. And so we don't want to be in a situation where Christian ministry is made illegal. We're close to that now....I'm concerned about these harsh restrictions that are coming from the states."
Finally, Wallis reminds us this is an issue of family values. In raids of workplaces and homes of undocumented immigrants, government authorities are literally taking children from their mothers and fathers, separating families. That rubs hard against the Christian tradition where we protect and support families. We don't do that because we value the family so highly.
The debate over immigration reform is far from over, and there are legitimate issues at stake. The rule of law is important, the system is broken. But we want to treat people humanely, and the way we as Christians talk and think about the issue is crucial. I think Wallis does a good in that regard. And I commend the report of the Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform to your reading.