News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. May 4, 2012: Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan hit the nail on the head when he told a national TV network recently that there is a need for a compassionate stance on immigration reform in the United States.
Dolan told MSNBC’s “Jansing & Co. what many have been shouting from the sidelines forever – that Republicans must “come up with a much saner, more civil, more just immigration policy” that Democrats can support and hopefully, our very smart, articulate President who claims to support immigration reform, can sign into law.
“When you have a policy that splits up families, when you have a policy that drives people underground, when you have a policy where now the government, whether it be in Arizona or Alabama, is asking our soup kitchens to ask for documentation before they give people food or housing or clothing or medical care, that’s not right. That’s not Catholic. That’s not Christian. That’s not religious. And it’s not American,” the leader of the Catholic Archdiocese of New York said.
The call from the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops could not come at a better time – especially as the Supreme Court Justices are actually contemplating the legality of the Arizona law and as the Republican front runner, Mitt Romney, continues to hold on to an immigration reform plan that offers no real solutions. (How are you going to deport 11 plus million people Mitt? Tell us please!)
In a country where over 80 percent or some 224,457,000 identify themselves as of the Christian faith, particularly in states that are busy passing laws that profile immigrants, splits up families and drives people underground, one cannot help but wonder about the all round hypocrisy.
In the Bible belt regions of Arizona and Alabama, a recent election exit polls claims that over 80 percent of the states’ voters labeled themselves as Christians. Yet, these are the states unleashing the harshest laws on undocumented migrants, many of whom are part of the Christian Church.
The Bible is clear on how immigrants should be treated as it notes in Exodus 22:21: “You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.”
And again in Leviticus 19:33-34 – “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
So one can’t help but ask: Which Bible are these so called Christian lawmakers reading?
Still it’s not surprising that these southern and south-western states are the ones waging these harsh laws against poor migrants.
Divisions have always existed within the Christian denominations in these U.S. states over gender, class, and race. Just look at the battle by many in Alabama especially for civil rights – when blacks were enslaved, discriminated against, not allowed in many White churches and forced to form their own houses of worship.
Now in 2012, the lawmakers in the states with the worst history of civil rights violations are revisiting the past by going after immigrants whose only crime is to seek a better life in this country by taking jobs that Americans themselves won’t even consider.
It’s time many of these so called Christian leaders and lawmakers truly look in the mirror and ask themselves what the actions of a real Christian should be in dealing with the lesser of their brethren – even if they just happen to be brown and black?
The writer is founder of NewsAmericasNow, CaribPR Wire and Hard Beat Communications.
