Suffer the little children: What would Jesus say?

In a world where children are suffering, including one in five living in poverty or near poverty in the United States, why is there not a major movement among Evangelicals to offer hope and concrete help by supporting those who do?

Politically Evangelicals vote rightward on social issues involved in the political maelstrom that is part of politics today.  But this movement is coming in many directions, across Europe, in response to immigration.

Some of that fear comes from the Muslim immigrants, but it spells into the move of other groups, especially when there is economic concern from uncertainty.

There is also an element of racism and nationalism in much of it, as the gypsies have been an outcast group that was seriously outcast from France in very recent times.

Nationalism comes into prominence when people feel they are being attacked and their media, that represents their country--even in the more extreme ways---catapults news into areas that otherwise might mean little more than a laugh or two.  But step on the ground of one's country with the heavy boot of criticism, and the sensitive toes that are hurt will remember to get you later.

 Americans were polled right after Arizona's introduction of its immigration law several years ago and the lawsuit against the US Justice Department made by the State.  support of Arizona's new immigration law and against the U.S. Justice Department lawsuit involving it by a 50% to 33% margin, according to a recent Gallup poll, and the Rasmussen poll result has similar results.  But what would Jesus say?

Years ago it was the "in" thing to ask the question, "What would Jesus do" or "What would Jesus say," when speaking of any serious issue where there might be division or a decision has to be made about doing the right thing in a Christian way.

Certainly Christians often speak of rendering to Caesar what is his and to God what is His, but is this the rest of the story.  Let's take a look at what one group of Christians has to say about the topic of immigration and what it does to the human spirit, then reflect on the Christ message of love and see if that encompasses immigrants.

A posting ona blog of the Sojourner Christian group was titled, "Deportations that destroy the Human Spirit."  

A story of what happened to one man who was deported some months ago is part of the blog narration on immigration.  A man by the name of David is quoted as saying, "May I would be better off just crossing again and going to prison for many years.  He had been stopped by police and subsequently turned over to the immigration officials, then deported and now lives on the streets of Nogales, Sonora.

This story, like that of David, the article tells us,  goes on more often than people think, with different details told by individuals who are given heavy criminal sentences for no other crime than being paperless and stealing into the country, sometimes in desperate moves to avoid the kind of poverty that can bring people to their knees.  These same people hear the debates about immigration, and the American public view, and become even more concerned about their relatives or friends in this country who could be caught.

The Sojourners are not attesting to their belief in illegal immigration, nor supporting it; although there may be some who think so.  What they have done in their article is outline the consequences and the harshness of being caught.  Is this the kind of outcome Americans want and is this the reflection of Christ's message?

The problem is, according to Sojourners, that the way immigration is handled violates Christ's message of love in its punitive stance with laws like those of Arizona that single out people that are different and that stir up hatreds and bad feelings.

Eight months ago Green Heritage News interviewed one of the owners of an employment firm in Yuma, Arizona.  When asked about the crime rate, this woman, who asked to be anonymous for this article, said, "We don't have an problem here (Yuma).  Our police do a very good job at the border."

Just months later when asked the same question after the Arizona law on immigration was signed by the Governor, Green Heritage News asked the same employment firm owner about crime in Yuma.  "We have a terrible time here," she said.  "The police are ineffective about it.  We especially have problems at the border."

This contradictory message was likely not considered by the remarks made, especially the second time; but these statements of cognitive dissonance allow many people to continue to support laws that target immigrants all the while they speak of how they love the legal immigrants, have Mexican friends and need to uphold the law.  They also tell of a low crime rate on the one hand and a high one on the other, sometimes in the same conversation.

As an aside, the crime rate in Arizona was lower than average during the past several years before enactment of the Arizona law, according to national crime statistics; so the effort to use the crime rate has been effective in that people believe false information in order to support erroneous beliefs.

Sojourners points out most of these people who are deported have no criminal background, have been doing honest work in the country and have led modest lives.  Yet they face harsh punishment if caught without papers.  The author of this most recent article,  cited here, is Maryada Vallet, who is working on a humanitarian initiative to handle immigration in a faith-based way.

Vallet ends her article with this, "I am convinced that God’s good vision is for us to be the church by living as one, free of barriers and in compassionate abundance. But I ask your prayers for those who are beaten down and need that strength and hope now more than ever, and prayer for all of us, complicit in these deportations."

Given the high rate of Christian belief in the United States and the high rate of belief in Arizona doing the right thing with its new law, it is important in the mix to read what some Christians think--and think what Christ would do.

And thinking about what Christ would do would not just be good for Arizona.