In
my view, we ought to use a different calculus in responding to refugees
as opposed to immigrants in general. Refugees are fleeing for
safety; their very lives are often on the line. They are like the man
in the
parable who was beaten, robbed, and left for dead on the
side of the road. It was no small risk for the Samaritan to approach to
help him
(my father, for example, was once mugged as he tried to
help a man), but he took the risk to help. Like many Americans, I am
haunted by
the memory of all those countries in the 1930s, including
the United States, who turned away Jewish refugees
(Congress rejected a 1939 bill to allow 20,000 Jewish children into the
US, for
example). Thus my rejection of even a 90-day suspension,
as that would put many, many lives in jeopardy. The many issues this
raises
are addressed wisely by Matt Soerens of World Relief.
Because
it's not about dealing with a crisis, immigration is slightly
different. My personal view is to lean on the side of a
generous immigration policy. But I also recognize the many competing
goods at
play in creating an immigration policy. So I'm always on
the lookout for discussions that can help me think about immigration
beyond
the simplistic binaries of "Give me your tired, your
hungry, your poor" and "Keep America safe."
One such example is "Toward a Conservative Immigration Policy" (and the whole series, for that matter). As is often the case, I find myself somewhere between conservatives and liberals on
this issue, so I found some parts of this compelling and some parts unconvincing. But it gave me a lot to ponder.
A Most Amazing History
I'm
not much for commemoration days, weeks, or months (they usually seem
forced), but I do make exceptions. One is Black History
Month, because it's about one of the most fascinating of histories. Note
my
article from Christian History, for example, "Defeating the Conspiracy." It never ceases to amaze me that an oppressed people adopted the religion of their
oppressors.
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Potpourri
How Rachel Carson Inadvertently Cost Millions of People Their Lives. The Great Crime: How a forgotten American diplomat resisted the Armenian Genocide. Against Empathy! (But for compassion). "It is our wrong and death which is behind us, our right and life which is before us. The transition from that past to this future is our present. We are the participants in this great drama. That history is, in fact, our history. We have to say indeed that it is our true history, in an incomparably more direct and intimate way than anything which might present itself as our history in our own subjective experience." —Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics IV I page 547 | ||
Grace and peace,
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