Comments on: Love Casts Out Fear, Not Immigrants

By: mamav

mamav — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:08:57 +0000

We can stop the gate keeping and worrying about numbers if we take more of a World Systems approach to the issue of immigration instead of concentrating all our efforts on U.S. soil. We must abolish NAFTA, and ensure that globalization benefits all countries equally. Migrants and other immigrants are, for all intents and purposes, “forced” immigrants. No one desires to leave their home country, their family, their native language and culture to arrive at a new lifestyle of fear and insecurity. If you're concerned about slowing down the wave of immigrants, perhaps improving the local economies of the countries from which our guests are forced to come would be a great place to start.

By: mamav

mamav — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:08:57 +0000

By: Gwenrevere

Gwenrevere — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:30:53 +0000

I wish I could buy everyone I know copies of Richard T. Hughes' “Myths America Lives By”. He was my best professor in college and he has continued to challenge my thinking through his writing. I highly recommend this book in regard to this issue and many others.

By: senoralili

senoralili — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:41:11 +0000

it is not the numbers only, it is how immigrants are treated. that is something each individual can add or subtract to, beyond the law. How we treat the stranger and exile does define the individual as a righteous person or not. How do you treat the foreigner who can't speak English yet?

By: senoralili

senoralili — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:37:00 +0000

define permanent, in the US today 3 years is not a visitors visa! OK.

By: reformer

reformer — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:34:25 +0000

You make a good point. On the other hand, the Bible doesn't call upon, say, Israel to welcome large numbers of Gentiles either. The Bible doesn't urge that immigrants take jobs of millions of natives.

By: reformer

reformer — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:31:21 +0000

One million or so legal immigrants isn't sufficient. So how many million immigrants a year would be humane in your view?

By: reformer

reformer — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:29:57 +0000

Jesus and his family didn't become permanent residents of Egypt.

By: reformer

reformer — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:27:52 +0000

Are we immoral if we prefer to live in a safe country instead of an unsafe one?

By: reformer

reformer — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:26:24 +0000

The USA admits more immigrants than any other nation on earth. If that is immoral restrictiveness, at least we stack up well by comparison.

What is the moral number? Who decides if not the elected representatives?

By: rhemalogix

rhemalogix — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:21:34 +0000

Thanks, RegT49!

It's always good to see how immigration is impacting other places, like Australia. Clearly, more work needs to be done to unpack both globalization's role in migration patterns and the host countries' responses and reactions to the same.

...Jose

By: rhemalogix

rhemalogix — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:59:03 +0000

Thank you for you comment and your passion!

Couple comments of clarification:
1--I don't believe in imposing my religious views on others. And that is exactly what I say. I do believe that faith should play a role in the political process, but only when it is for the common ground--which I also make clear.

2--I don't believe in completely open borders. Nowhere in my piece do I endorse a "Come on in" policy. So this was a stretch on your part to assume this. I do believe that a sovereign state has the right to secure its borders. But I believe those borders should be humane.

Thanks again for your thoughts!

By: RegT49

RegT49 — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 09:24:09 +0000

Great post José. Thank you. Exactly the same debate is happening in Australia, and I think for the same reasons. The world / the U.S.A. / Australia is not a “safe” place, and people are desperate to maximise their safety. The unknown “other” threatens that safety. It's easy to understand, and very hard to overcome. darkmoses spoke above of perfect love. Jesus had this, I think Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King had this, and I think Nelson Mandela must have had a generous portion to be able to endure what he did and still undertake the transformation that he achieved. I think it's time for the “anglo” whites (and I'm one of them) to step beyond our comfort zone and live in the world that everyone else is part of. It isn't safe, but it IS the real world, and without sacrifice of individual safety for collective security we're all going to go down together, and it's not going to be pretty.

By: senoralili

senoralili — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:52:38 +0000

And we should remember that Jesus himself was sheltered as an immigrant in Egypt as a babe. His family FLED to Egypt, what if they had encountered the anti-immigrant violence we now have emerging in America? Jesus WAS the immigrant. Whatsoever you do…

By: darkmoses

darkmoses — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:56:05 +0000

Thanks for this. Another important observation I'd make is that Jesus deliberately crossed borders – political, cultural, ethnic, religious, gender, and class – to accomplish his healing work. Jesus had perfect love, and therefore no fear of the stranger.

For us to do likewise is a challenge, because it means going up against the very systems you describe that try to limit, manage, and deny “mixed” relationships in order to maintain hegemony and power. May we all find Jesus' courage in this day and age to address the injustice of “illegal” immigration!

By: stevenskattebo

stevenskattebo — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:58:53 +0000

Nuclearferret criticizes the “worldview that the borders of a country or nation are irrelevant”

They're not irrelevant; they are immoral, because they allow the rich to cross, but not the poor. That is anti-Christian.

By: PiperJM

PiperJM — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:12:50 +0000

I agree with your observations. What people really mean when they talk about the melting pot is melting away any "dangerous" peices of culture, such as pride and identity, and leaving more innocuous forms of cultural representation such as food.

When we are asked to love our neighbors, we aren't asked to love them after they learn our language, after they give up being proud of their ancestory or after they have adjusted to us. We are asked to love them as they are. This is what Christ calls us to. He never calls us to anything that is simple or easy to do. And we need to lean on Him in prayer in order to be able to answer His calls completely.

Our system is broken and unjust. It is time for a change.

By: Joshua Case | Love Casts Out All Immigrants?

Joshua Case | Love Casts Out All Immigrants? — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:23:33 +0000

[...] is an interesting article on Love, Fear, and Immigration. JC Send to FacebookRelated Ways to Take Action: No immigration wall on the border of U.S. and [...]

By: tlwinslow

tlwinslow — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:49:25 +0000

When it comes to immigration to the U.S., those coming from Mexico should not be treated the same as those coming from dangerous countries such as Yemen. Instead, they should be treated as neighbors, not "illegal aliens". Why does the U.S. continue to treat Mexico as a separate country anymore when so many Mexicans have moved to the U.S. or want to? Instead, it's time to work to incorporate Mexico into the U.S. as 10+ new states after inviting the Mexican people to dissolve their ever-corrupt fatcat-controlled Mexican federal govt., allowing us all to share the New World in peace and prosperity in a model bilingual nation. Learn about the nonpartisan Megamerge Dissolution Solution now making the rounds of universities and govt. agencies by clicking http://go.to/megamerge

By: nuclearferret

nuclearferret — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:00:18 +0000

So in essence, you have no problem proposing an imposition of YOUR form of religion and faith upon government, but not that of others, and that, boiled down to its core, the immigration policy should be “Come on in.” Why bother adding any staff at ICE? They are unneeded in this worldview that the borders of a country and nation are irrelevant.