How can America call itself a Christian country if it treats children like this?
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
T he screams of children being taken from their mothers and fathers at our border, under our flag, haunts the nation. Across political and religious divides, the nation – and the world – is aghast and Americans are refusing complicity in all the ways they can. Millions of people are crying, protesting and praying in our houses of worship and in the public square. In a moment of national shame, huge swaths of people are acting in love.
Shoes and toys left behind by children separated from their parents
at the Tornillo port of entry, Texas.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
The families making treacherous and often dangerous journeys to seek refuge in the US are desperate. They face extreme violence, persecution and poverty in their home countries. You cannot deter people who are fleeing for their lives, even with policies as cruel as taking children away from their parents. People who come to our borders only hope to give their children a chance. We should be meeting these people with compassion.
Christians have recoiled against the notion that ripping children from their parents – euphemistically called “family separation” – in any way comports with the teachings of Jesus Christ. Jesus of Nazareth, his mother, Mary, and Joseph were refugees who fled persecution and emigrated to Egypt. Love thy neighbour is the Christian way. There is no biblical mandate or warrant for what is occurring on our borders. Christianity must never be confused with cruelty.
While the president has rightly declared families will no longer be separated at the border , he wrongly continues to promote a hurtful immigration policy greatly devoid of human compassion. Even with the new executive order, immigration officers will keep families who are legally seeking asylum in detention.
The agony of migrant parents at our border is immense. Every parent has feared the unthinkable: my child is gone. For me, it was a flash of dread in an everyday experience while shopping with my two young children in a department store. My oldest daughter wandered away and for the 10 seconds before I found her nestled between hanging clothes I felt a panic I had never before imagined.
Those remain the longest 10 seconds of my life and are seared in my memory. I can still taste the fear and I relive that sick feeling in my body remembering what it was like to be physically shaken by the fear that I had lost my daughter and would not be able to find her. Imagine those seconds multiplied by days and weeks and months.
Today, there remain thousands of children scattered in foster homes and child prison camps with no system in place for reunification. Each of these children needs our prayers, our voices of outrage and our help to reunite them with their families and heal from this terror. And the children who came before them, those who have crossed the border as children alone and some who were remanded to youth prisons that are under scrutiny for abusive practices – these children also need our intervention.
The rhetoric from our government leaders, which casts “the other” – in this case, families seeking refuge – as dangerous, inhumanely violates the Christian tradition. Selfishness is a sin. We cannot live up to our country’s ideals if we embrace only our own desires and put our needs above all others – even above God. Being a US citizen does not make us more human than people on the other side of our border.
We are in the midst of a global migration crisis, where millions of families have been separated after fleeing their homelands due to violence, conflict and persecution.
This crisis touches almost every continent in the world. The US is on track to resettle the fewest refugees since the refugee resettlement programme began in 1980 . God does not condone our attack on immigrants. Jesus says: “Love your neighbour.” Jesus says: “Love your enemy.” Jesus says: “Welcome the stranger.” We ask that our friends in Britain continue to pray for our country in hopes that we may continue to follow a moral compass pointing in the direction of love, compassion, goodness.
What is the Christian way to manage borders? Strength does not require cruelty. Indeed, cruelty is a response rooted in weakness. Jesus was clear about what true strength is and it always is driven by love. There may be many policy prescriptions, but the prism through which we view them should be the same: does the policy treat people with love, acknowledging our common humanity? If the answer is no, it is not a Christian solution.
Detaining and separating families – children and their parents – is not just happening at the border. Some immigrant parents and care-givers who have lived in the US for decades – and have children who are US citizens – are being rounded up and deported, leaving a trail of countless children in this country without their parents.
President Trump’s executive order has not quieted the cries of the children still separated from their parents. It has not comforted the parents still panicked because they cannot see their babies. It does nothing to stop the heartless deportations of immigrants who are longtime neighbours and members of our communities.
All of those families weep. And so we must respond to the weeping by working to help America to live out one of its core ideals, enshrined in words on the Statue of Liberty.
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
The Most Rev Michael Bruce Curry is presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal church
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Bishop Curry recently officiated at a royal marriage in London...
The haters in America are making a mockery of the Statue of Liberty and what it stands for, to promote their own hate agenda. This is not what America was built on. Nor can it continue to survive without the help of others. No matter how much the haters deny it.
But... but... but... Raven!!!
We can't let those people in... They are small, with brown skins... they can't be real Americans!
I understand. Native Americans should never have let those white skinned invaders in our country either. What a HUGH mistake. Native Americans were persecuted by them the same as they are trying to persecute the human beings with brown skin at our borders. Native Americans should have stood and yelled, "Don't let them in!" "Don't let them in!" as they approached our shores. But, those who think they are so superior to others because of the color of their skin will one day find out that they are not the superior ones. Maybe that is what they are afraid of.
I'm afraid you have no idea what you are talking about. There was no 'massive' invasion at the time. Simpy a boat load of people who settled at Jamestown. With the number of Native Americans at the time they entire group of settlers could have been wiped out.
Try doing a bit of research before you make a fool of yourself.
Are you Native American?
... except, of course, for Anreas Nielsen, Danish farmer...
Nah...Native Americans already had their own religious beliefs. And they are far truer than any of the Christian beliefs. They didn't kill others in God's name.
Evening Raven..Your history, is also our history...the same was done here with the Australian Aborigines...They were here for tens of thousands of years and then we rock up in 1770 and the rest they say "is history". One that was repeated around the world time and time again unfortunately....I have the greatest respect for the Koori culture here and people and hope that one day the inequality that was and still is displayed to this day disappears....No I have never looked upon us Whites as being superior nor anyone inferior...I believe in each to their own and treat everyone the way I wish to be treated..So far have not had any problems with this, but know that is not the case for everyone....Life is to short and be at peace with it...We can only change the present and the future....the past has been lost, no matter how much we wish we could change it...
"Native Americans already had their own religious beliefs. And they are far truer than any of the Christian beliefs. They didn't kill others in God's name."
Are you sure about that??
The superiority of White people over Brown people is demonstrated!
The only thing demonstrated is that it takes two seconds for the left to play the race card because they have no facts.
In America, the race card is the only card.
Everything in politics today is about race.
I totally agree. However, we must never forget the past, we must learn from it in order to prevent making the same mistakes in the future to make our future and our country better.
And we should never forget nor demean those who were here before us who made the country the kind of place that could sustain the future generations that helped our country grow. The Natives knowledge in agriculture, medicine and hunting enabled the early settlers to survive one here or they would likely not have lived long enough to establish their colonies.
I myself am Cherokee, and my Maternal ancestor's homeland was in Virginia. My Paternal ancestors were in Georgia. I had ancestors from both areas that were forced marched on the Trail of Tears, some of which died along the way to what is today Oklahoma. Those sent to that part of the country were intended to die off. But, while they intended to bury those who survived, the government did not realize that they natives were the seeds, and thus would survive and flourish instead.
So yes, our country's Native peoples managed to endure the attempts of the invaders to eradicate them, and thrive against all odds. The invaders did not realize that the mere color of their skin and their Christianity did not ensure them a seat at the right hand of God when their time to leave this world came. And it still applies today.
Yep.
America will never be free of its past until it recognizes its treatment of non-Whites. Most Americans are decent people. They are whipsawed between that decency and the Tribal Truth of White Supremacy.
The cognitive dissonance is unbearable.
Indeed. I don't have any problems with most people with white skin color, as they are simply trying to make a living and enjoy the time they have on earth as much as possible. Just like me and millions of others. It is those who feel that because people of other skin colors are inferior to them that creates many of the problems in the world even today.
And together, they are ruining America.
Agreed. And it has been many, many years since I can remember the time of such vile prejudice against non-whites. And it is a reflection of the racist attitude of Trump and his administration. They want to make America whites only, but, they know they can't do that, so they settle for acting against those who are non-whites. However,
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Hispanic and Latino Americans amount to an estimated 17.8% of the total U.S. population, making up the largest ethnic minority.
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And he is pissing off those whose votes he has been courting with his contrived 'invasion' of Hispanics at our borders, where children were forcibly taken from their parents. I don't think he will be getting many of those votes he has been hoping for.
Yes. I guess it's a race against the clock between two contradictory futures.
On the one hand, the GOP is attempting to make America a one-party plutocracy. On the other, demographics may make minorities the majority.
Sadly, I'm betting on the plutocracy.
Being an optimist, I am betting on the opposite. And I think the majority of the American people are betting the same way.
I'm sure that most Americans would be horrified if they understood how close we are to the end of democracy. Unfortunately, "most Americans" are too busy to notice.
I dont know how close to the end of democracy we are but I do believe it is and will be tested more so than normal under this administration. With 241 years behind us I'd say that's a pretty good record. However I too question what long term affects president trump's style of governing will have on the institution. His win at all costs attitude does come at a cost.
As far as people are too busty to see the problems with trumps style I think many are just totally ignoring it as far as possible concerning the long term negative effects because at this time they are getting what they want, IF and when that changes (although it may be too late) many will change and start looking past their idologing of trump that he can do no wrong and they too will see and understand a one man government is not want we want nor what is best for the country.
time will tell, I see NO ONE stopping trump at this time, many have tried,all have failed. Trump himself will probably be the only one that can take him down.
I see trump too big to fall except under his own weight at this point.
Good Luck America or should I say trumperika ?
Time will tell.
Scary, hmmmm?
Thank you for proving my point about not caring at all about facts and truth.
Trump saved democracy. The corrupt Democrats couldn't even nominate someone honestly and the corrupt media can't tell the truth. Average honest Americans- not liberal coastal elites and their socialist benefactors- have taken the country back and thank God they did.
Jeez, man...
If you're going to Reply to a post that's way, way up above... then quote it! I'm not going to do your legwork.
No, no, no, no, no!
Obama was elected because he is a Kenyan Muslim!
No.
This is the exact reason why 100% emotion based arguments do nothing to have a serious discussion. These parents actually endanger their kids lives by dragging them through drug cartel controlled areas. The crying girl on Times cover (who never was even seperated) has a mother who actually abandoned the rest of her family (a husband and three other kids).
The worst thing is that these parents could've gotten their kids back immediately at any time by agreeing to go back home. The parents knew damn well what they were doing and the safety of their kids was the last thing in their minds.
Over two thousand kids separated from their parents... and put in cages.
But hey! Let's just dismiss it all.........
Cages?? You mean boarding school settings where the kids were given medical treatment and education? Or did you fall for all those Obama era photos and staged pictures taken by activists using their own kids?
Oh.... yes... of course...
Without the cages, all is well!
Rmando - those right wing lies are still not working. Trump knows it, which is why he wants to pretend the immigration problem doesn’t exist until after November. Womp womp.
Those are not lies- those are facts. And I hope Dems keep up this issue to November. They are admitting completely now that they at open borders and the "rights" of criminals and illegals are worth more than the rights of Americans. Prepare to lose your collective minds on election night just like last time.
... and ate some of them, too!
Did he get a good price? Did the money go the Treasury?
Now you're talking to yourself. You're asking questions and then answering them.
Enjoy!
You seem to frivolously treat the fact that Obama did give illegal children to human traffickers. I'll help you learn the truth with these 4 links:
Nonsense engenders frivolity.
You're starting to froth, so it's time to put an end to this.
It would be fine with me if America wasn’t considered to be a Christian country as I would prefer separation of church and state. Preachers setting policies doesn’t really appeal to me.
Choice is a bitch, Dean.
The right is inseparable from Evangelicalism. You can't have one without the other.
Exactly.
Totally agree. And no matter how much the Christians try to make it so, that is not what the Founding Fathers intended. Separation of Church and State was fully intended, as many of the Founding Fathers were not that religious. Although, the Christians try to make the world believe they were, and intended for Christianity to rule the country, that was not what was intended, and still isn't.
Indeed. Not to mention that if the Founding Fathers had thought this was a christian nation, one would think they would have mentioned it in the Constitution.
It shouldn't be considered a Christian nation because it's not. It's christian dominionists or apologetics, or those ignorant of history, that consider this a Christian nation.
If the treatment of people worries you, then why have so many been so silent for so long about the treatment of our own citizens? Why do the illegals deserve more attention than our own citizens and veterans?
Such ignorance is stunning! "The New Colossus" was a sonnet submitted to a fundraiser. Any reference to immigrants pertained to LEGAL IMMIGRANTS ... not people ILLEGALLY entering the USA:
Good God, what pathetic nit-picking!
Historical facts about the NY harbor's LEGAL immigration system - which is in your seed - are not nit-picking, Bob. If you think I'm wrong, prove it.
Looks like he fell for it.
Jawohl, Herr Sturmführer!
Please READ what I write, and don't put other words in my mouth. I didn't say you were wrong. I said you were nit-picking. I gave you credit for understanding the difference, but that may have been an error.
You are conflating two different epochs, using anachronistic criteria, and ultimately coming to erroneous conclusions.
Other than that...
Delusional?
If this issue has settled proved America is not a Christian nation it was worth it
Dunno.
Nobody actually addressed the seed. But hey! I've given up trying to herd cats.
I sprayed a tree with fish oil to get rid of something on the leaves and a herd of cats came to visit
Hmmmmm.....
Do you know of an online equivalent? It could be very useful here on NT!
Bed-time. Locking.
See you in a few hours.
Unlocked.
Good morning, all.