SPEAKING OF OOGEDY-BOOGEDY (via Kevin Whited):

What would Jesus have to say about illegal immigration?: The Bible contains numerous passages outlining the duty of the faithful to treat 'aliens' with charity and tolerance (BILL KING, 12/07/08, Houston Chronicle)

A few months ago I was in church listening to our pastor's sermon. He was describing a feast where the prophets had sent out word for all the people of Israel to come together. Interestingly, the invitation to the feast specially included all of the "aliens living among you."

When I got home I got on an electronic version of the Bible and did a search for the word "alien." To my surprise, the search turned up dozens of references. It seems that the issue of immigration has been on peoples' minds for some time.

A copy of the passages can be found at www.BillKingHouston.com/scripture. Most are in the Old Testament and while the message varies, the underlying theme is an admonishment to treat aliens living in your land with tolerance and charity. Frequently, they are grouped with widows and orphans, and the passages charge us with an affirmative duty to see to their well being. In many of these passages, originally written to the Israelites, they are reminded that they will do these things because they once lived as aliens in the land of Egypt.

There are two passages that I found particularly compelling. First is Exodus 12:49:

"The same law applies to the native-born and to the alien living among you."

I am not a big proponent of mixing religion and politics, but I do not believe we should check our faith-based values at the courthouse door or the capitol steps. I find many of the legislative proposals floating around these days pretty inconsistent with this passage.

The second is less legalistic, but even more compelling. Deuteronomy 10:17-19 provides:

"For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality . . . He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt."[...]

Immigration reform is likely to be on the national agenda next year. Some members of the Texas Legislature have indicated that there may be some proposals put forth on the state level as well. Certainly there will be many difficult issues in this process on which people of good will may honestly disagree. But I hope we will undertake reforming our system with our faith-based values in mind and not a moral blindness that we will one day regret.

In case you wondered why the Darwinian Right is so invested in stopping Sarah Palin.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 7, 2008 7:30 PM