Child refugees reader part 3: Christian voices

Child refugees reader part 3: Christian voices August 26, 2014

• Carlos L. Malavé, “They Are Our Children” (Bread for the World)

The Church is called to be the most unequivocal expression of the heart and conscience of Christ. The way we respond to the cries of the children of God either affirms our legitimacy or exposes our failure. Our allegiance is not to the political, theological, or sociological winds of the time. Our allegiance is to the one who will call us into account when the last act of the human drama wraps up.

Every follower of Christ, every minister, and every local congregation must offer refuge to those seeking freedom, healing, and salvation. Our ears cannot become deaf to the words of Jesus: “Because you did it unto one of these little ones, you have done it unto me.”

• Josephine McKenna, “Pope Francis: End the ‘racist and xenophobic’ approach to migrants along US-Mexico border” (Religion News Service)

“Many people forced to emigrate suffer, and often, die tragically,” the pope said in a message sent to a global conference in Mexico.

“Many of their rights are violated, they are obliged to separate from their families and, unfortunately, continue to be the subject of racist and xenophobic attitudes.”

• Allan R. Bevere, “Refugee Children and the Border Crisis: Some Questions for the Nation Called Church”

The church that exists in America needs to say to the powers that be in Washington DC, you would be a better and more just nation if you found a place of these children. But, first and foremost, the burden of the biblical concern for the stranger and the alien and the oppressed must be borne by the people of God, the church.

• Alan  Bean, “Jesus and the children on our doorstep”

Are we as heartless as Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton seem to believe?

You bet we are.  Moreover, religious commitment seems to have little influence on how we respond to the immigration crisis.  According to a recent Pew poll, 43 percent of the religiously unaffiliated agree with the current policy of mass deportation while 48 percent oppose it.  The only religious constituencies showing more compassion than  the “nones” are Hispanic Catholics (59 percent of whom oppose mass deportation), and African American Protestants (46 percent).

Only 41 percent of white evangelicals oppose the policy of mass deportation and the white mainline is only slightly more compassionate at 42 percent.

To summarize, religious conviction has little bearing on the immigration debate and white Protestants find it particularly hard to empathize with the plight of the undocumented.

• David R. Gibson, “Jesuits tell their alumni in Congress: Protect border children” (Religion News Service)

“I ask you, as a leader, a parent, and a Catholic, to uphold an American tradition of which we are all proud,” the Rev. Thomas Smolich, head of the U.S. Jesuit conference, wrote to House Speaker John Boehner and 42 other House members who graduated from Jesuit high schools and colleges.

“We must welcome the refugee, the victim of trafficking, the child who has been abused or abandoned,” Smolich wrote in the July 29 letter.

• Joel Goza, “Is the heart of Texas too small for children?” (Houston Chronicle)

We need fears that drive us to that which we know is right rather than fears that commit us to the hard-heartedness necessary to do what we know is wrong. Perhaps rather than fearing the cost of caring for children with deep needs, we should fear the cost of losing the piece of our humanity that sending them away always entails. Perhaps rather than fearing accepting children who fail to meet our legal standards, we should fear our acceptance of a code of laws that writes the care of children out of the statues of justice. Perhaps rather than fearing an unknown future represented in the yearning eyes of young immigrants, we should fear a future shaped around the perversions of our self-interest that make tomorrows unworthy of future generations. Perhaps we should fear a world in which drug cartels have the final word concerning the value of children’s lives.

• Adelle M. Banks, “More than 100 religious, immigration activists arrested at White House” (Religion News Service)

More than 100 religious leaders and activists were arrested Thursday (July 31) in a White House protest aimed at halting deportations and aiding immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.

The direct action sponsored by Church World Service and Casa de Maryland, an immigration advocacy group, brought leaders from New England to Hawaii to the nation’s capital.

The U.S. Park Police completed the arrests of 112 people by 3 p.m., charging each with “blocking passage” on the sidewalk outside the White House, a misdemeanor, said Sidney Traynham, a spokesman for Church World Service.

• Miles Mullin, “Evangelicals and Immigration — 1940s Style”

The actions of the leaders and constituency of the National Association of Evangelicals in the late 1940s demonstrate something about the ethos of mid-century evangelism: it possessed an attitude of expansive welcome towards those who were displaced.  In our current context, let us at least demonstrate the same attitude as our compassionate evangelical forebears.

• Morgan Lee, “Evangelical Organization to Support Hundreds of Immigrant Children” (Christian Post)

The National Latino Evangelical Coalition will be working with faith-based organizations across the country to open up 600 beds to Central American children who have crossed into the country without their parents.

• Russell D. Moore, “Immigration and the Gospel” (Southern Baptist Convention)

The Christian response to immigrant communities in the United States cannot be “You kids get off of my lawn” in Spanish. While evangelicals, like other Americans, might disagree on the political specifics of achieving a just and compassionate immigration policy, our rhetoric must be informed by more than politics, but instead by gospel and mission.

I’m amazed when I hear evangelical Christians speak of undocumented immigrants in this country with disdain as “those people” who are “draining our health care and welfare resources.” It’s horrifying to hear those identified with the gospel speak, whatever their position on the issues, with mean-spirited disdain for the immigrants themselves.

• Steve Thorngate, “Welcoming these kids is the least we can do” (Christian Century)

We should welcome these unaccompanied minors with open arms. But if the idea of accepting refugees or granting asylum makes us think proud thoughts about the Statue of Liberty or whatever, it probably shouldn’t. This isn’t really America being great. It’s more like the least we can do.

• John Allen, “The Politics of Welcoming the Immigrant”

Many have advocated that this country has no responsibility for these migrants. Biblically speaking, their position is off the ethical map. In the story of Ruth, as throughout the Hebrew Bible, allowing immigrants to glean is an unquestionable and basic ethical requirement. In the story of Ruth however, Boaz earns God’s superlative praise by extending hospitality and resources that exceed the most basic requirement.

As people of faith we are certainly required to extend basic material support to migrants who journey in our land. Feeding, clothing, and sheltering vulnerable children who come across our border alone is as clear an ethical mandate today as it was to allow gleaning in the ancient world. Let’s also imagine how we might add Boaz’s more enthusiastic hospitality to the range of political options. Rather than housing children in humane conditions until they can be safely deported, we could work to unite them with family in the United States. We could provide education and supportive services. We could learn to expect that newcomers will offer new richness to this society rather than fear only that they will become a burden.

• Timothy Kincaid, “Catholic Church stops funding immigrants group”

• Amanda Marcotte, “Some Bible verses for good Christians angry that migrant kids might sleep in a bed” (Raw Story)

• Alan Bean, “Fear, faith, and the border children”

• Joey Aszterbaum, “Murrietta Is a Mess: Border Crisis and Confusion”

• Natasha S. Robinson, “Immigration Reform: What Christians Need to Know” (Urban Faith)

• Joe Conason, “Border Crisis Tests Religious Faith — and Some Fail Badly”

• Welcoming America, “Unaccompanied Children”

• Bread for the World, “We Must Feed the Starving Refugees”

• Episcopal Church, “Welcoming the Stranger Advocacy Toolkit”

Office of Refugee Resettlement

Church World Service

 


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