Whether to aid migrants may be question of faith [Churches aid Illegals]

San Antonio Express-News ^ | Web Posted: 03/18/2006 12:00 AM CST | Abe Levy

[sanormal]

In a tiny house on the West Side, two nuns provide a daily break for Mexican immigrant mothers struggling to raise families in a foreign culture.

The nuns teach English, computer skills and arts and crafts. They celebrate birthdays and invite residents to the local Catholic church for Masses. If requested, they give advice on applying for citizenship.

It's free. No questions asked. Not about religion. Not about legal status.

But the work of the 7-month-old Presentation Ministry Center and similar organizations could be in jeopardy, according to opponents of a bill approved by the U.S. House in December.

As part of a proposed overhaul of immigration law, the House wants to make it a crime for any individual or group to knowingly assist the nation's estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants.

Whether Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or Islamic, religious leaders say critical social services to the undocumented potentially could be reduced — if not stopped — should that part of the bill become law.

It could force them into a moral quandary: Obey civil law or God's mandate to show compassion to the poor.

Many religious leaders already have made their choice.

"If they want to put a bunch of priests and ministers in jail, then we're going to have to face the consequences," said Father Jim Loiacono, pastor of Our Lady of Refuge Catholic Church in Eagle Pass, four blocks from the Texas-Mexico border. "It's heartless because these are people who are so desperate there's no way we can turn them away."

[Nea Wood]

Many believe that their deity requires them to aid the poor, whether illegal or not. What are they to do?

You give money or food to a poor person, or take them to the nearest shelter, but you don't bring them into your house and give them your master bedroom and the keys to your car. I believe Christians should take care of illegals' immediate needs, (food, water, whatever) and then counsel them to go back to their home countries and apply to enter the United States legally.

[Scotsman will be Free]

Securing ones borders is not immoral. Having an orderly immigration policy is not immoral. Allowing your country to be over run by aliens, and encouraging anarchy by disobeying the law is immoral. Allowing illegal aliens into your country where they end up murdering, robbing, and raping your citizens, and impoverishing local hospitals and other social services is immoral. I have seen and dealt with, first hand, what your type of morality brings to my country. Change your moniker to "Judas Goat".

[Rockitz]

Ask yourself why no employers are prosecuted. The answer's not pretty.

Let me lay it out for you.

1) Supply business owners, who tend to be GOP donors, with cheap labor.

2) Charm illegals with the hope that they may one day be GOP voters.

So pretty much it's all about increasing the war chest of politicians and buying votes.

[P-40]

This is why I prefer going after those employers who hire illegals.


The problem is that if you only take this measure you end up with a lot of illegals with no means to feed themselves. And no, this will not cause them to go home. There need to be steps to go after the employer, seal the border, have a workable green card system, change the citizenship by birth laws, etc.

[Pelayo]

Isn't that nice. Shall I quote Romans 13 for starters?

Yes but in the case of the Catholic Church we have a doctrine called the Gelasian doctrine of the two-swords. Such that for every person who claims to be part of Christendom the authority of the Church is to be set at a higher level than that of any civil authority. And should the later contradict the former, we are to side with the Church. That is part of our faith. It is true that in the broad sense the authority of governments to exercise power comes from God, as must all authority by it's very nature, however in the particular governments can and do negate their authority by acting against God's will and His commands. Otherwise Romans 13 could be used to justify any form of tyranny. Romans 13 only stipulates that in general we are to follow and obey the civil authority's because God has given them power even though they maybe pagan, and as it stands we cannot question God's will. But again, that is in the broad sense, are we to “obey” the civil authority when Christianity is made illegal?

[mthom]

Feed some homeless person or let them stay in a shelter even if they were illegal? Of course I would expect no less from a church. Hide illegals in order to keep them from deportation? THAT should be a crime.

[mthom]

Do you support open borders?

[raybbr]

ping

[MineralMan]

"Securing ones borders is not immoral. Having an orderly immigration policy is not immoral. Allowing your country to be over run by aliens, and encouraging anarchy by disobeying the law is immoral. Allowing illegal aliens into your country where they end up murdering, robbing, and raping your citizens, and impoverishing local hospitals and other social services is immoral. I have seen and dealt with, first hand, what your type of morality brings to my country. Change your moniker to "Judas Goat"."

---

You're right. We should close our borders to illegal aliens. We should deport all illegal aliens currently within our borders. Yet...we do neither.

In fact, we appear to tacitly encourage illegals to come here. Our ICE won't even bother to come pick them up if they are arrested by local law enforcement. Our President wants to let them stay and work and maybe even bring more into this country.

Our Congress appears to have no interest in doing anything at all about illegal immigration.

So, these nuns aren't really doing anything the rest of our country isn't doing. They're feeding the illegals, teaching them, telling them how to apply for citizenship, et cetera.

When our own government begins actually doing something about the problem, then we can criticize some nuns giving aid to these people. Until then, we need a mirror to look back at ourselves.

I don't know where you live, but I'm sure you have some illegal aliens there. So, here's an experiment. Find some illegals, document them as best you can, with photos of them in a house full of illegals, etc. Then, go to your local law enforcement office and report them. Give the cops your evidence. Now, wait to see just how quickly they move to arrest these illegals.

You say they're not bothering with it? You say they're laughing at you? There you go, then.

The nuns aren't the problem.

[utahminuteman]

On the 15th of November, 2005 Congressman Tom Tancredo reported that Senator Bennett, at the behest of Mormon Lobbyist, (R-UT) had snuck an amendment into Title 8, Section 1324 of U.S. Code. That law now allows any group claiming to be a religious organization to encourage, transport or conceal any illegal alien as long as they are claiming to be a minister or missionary. How is that for a terrorist loop-hole?

[raybbr]

I don't read the Bible. Now what?

[Raycpa]

Can you justify your posistion using scripture?

[GarySpFc]

I have reviewed many sources, and attempted to carefully seek the Lord's will on this issue. The best source I have found to date is The Anchor Bible Dictionary from which the following is taken, and reprinted with permission. Please note the sojourner was expected to obey the law, and I hope I do not have to bring up the penalities for their disobedience under Biblcal law.

SOJOURNER [Heb gēr (גֵּר); Gk paroikos (παροικος)]. A foreigner who is traveling through a land or one who has taken up residence in that land. The key is that the sojourner has no familial or tribal affiliation with those among whom he or she is traveling or living. The Hebrew word derives from the root gwr. It is a common Afrasian root which appears in Egyptian and in the Semitic languages Phoenician, Ugaritic, Old South Arabic and Aramaic as well as Hebrew. In all of these languages, the meaning is generally agreed upon. The nominal form of the root applies to someone who is not native to the area, and the verbal form means “to travel,” “to sojourn,” or “to stay in a foreign territory.” However, there is some variation in the way lexicographers have tried to capture the meaning of gēr, and suggestions have included “sojourner,” “foreign resident,” “stranger,” “foreigner,” “immigrant,” “client,” and “resident alien.” Sojourner is used most often because it conveys the idea that the individual is not a permanent member of the community in which he or she lives. The term client is frequently employed to indicate that the individual does not have full rights within a community and thus is dependent on a patron for protection.

:::snip:::

In biblical texts the term gēr is used in two basic ways: to describe the experiences of the Israelites themselves when they are living among foreigners; and to describe those non-Israelites who live among the Israelites. However, this distinction becomes confused when the claim is made that the Levites are gērı̂m (sojourners) among the Israelites. In all of these cases, there are certain expectations of both the native population and the sojourners.
In a number of places, Israelites are said to sojourn in a land. Abraham, because of a famine in Palestine, sojourned in Egypt (Gen 12:10), and, in one version of the “sister–wife” story, Abraham sojourns in Gerar (Gen 20:1). Apparently Lot’s criticism of the men of Sodom is seen as a violation of his role as sojourner (Gen 19:6–9). It appears that because of his status as sojourner, Abraham must make a specific request for permission to purchase land from the Hittites in Canaan in order to have a place to bury Sarah (Gen 23:4). In another version of the “sister–wife” story, Isaac is a sojourner in Gerar and is protected by Abimelech (Gen 26:3, 11). Gen 32:4 indicates that Isaac sojourned with Laban; Gen 36:6–7 tells of Jacob and Esau sojourning in the Canaan; and Gen 47:4 reports that Joseph and his brothers requested permission of the Pharaoh to sojourn in the land of Goshen. When the Israelites finally settled in Canaan, it was in the land of their sojourning, which God had promised to them (Gen 17:7; Exod 6:4). This understanding of the Patriarchs as sojourners is also found outside of the Pentateuch (cf. Ps 39:13—Eng 39:12; 105:12; 1 Chr 29:15).
The second way in which “sojourn” is employed is to describe foreigners who live among the Israelites. Often these foreigners are subject to the same laws as the Israelites (Exod 12:49; Num 15:16). Thus, the sojourner shall observe the day of atonement (Lev 16:29) and Passover (Num 9:14); shall refrain from consuming blood (Lev 17:10); shall not blaspheme the name of Yahweh (Lev 24:16); shall observe the statutes relative to the ashes of the red heifer (Lev 19:10); and shall receive equal treatment under the law (Deut 24:14). Only occasionally is there a law which makes a distinction between Israelite and sojourner (cf. Deut 14:21). The reason given for this equal treatment is that Israel was once a sojourner in the land of Egypt (Exod 23:9; Lev 19:33–34; Deut 10:19; 16:9–12).
While equal treatment for the sojourner is the norm, it is clear that the sojourner does not enjoy the same social status as that of the Israelite. This realization emerges initially when one sees the way in which the sojourner has to be singled out in biblical legislation. The sojourner is not a full member of Israelite society but someone of different and lower status. The same perspective appears when one looks at the reference to the sojourner in the Ten Commandments (Exod 20:10). The sojourner is listed after sons, daughters, servants, and cattle. This secondary status can be seen in that the most frequent context in which the “foreigners” are mentioned includes mention of widows, orphans, and the poor (Lev 23:22; Deut 10:18; 24:17, 19; Jer 7:6; 22:3; Ezek 22:7, 29; Zech 7:10; Ps 94:6; 146:9). Widows, orphans, and the poor are to receive special consideration by the Israelites because of their lack of means of support, and so too are the sojourners.
So, like the widow and the orphan, the sojourner is in a distinct social class, part of a group which requires special care and protection. The Israelites are expected to provide this care and protection for these foreigners who live among them, because they too were once foreigners sojourning in a strange land. As is stated in Leviticus 19:34, “The stranger who sojourns with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am Yahweh your God.”
In the NT (and in the LXX) the Greek word paroikos is used to translate the Hebrew gēr and to convey the idea of a sojourner or resident alien. It appears only four times in the NT. In StephenÂ’s speech in Acts 7, he uses the word to refer to AbrahamÂ’s time as a sojourner (v 6) and MosesÂ’ sojourning in Midian (v 29). In Ephesians 2:19 the writer states that those who join the “household of God” will no longer be sojourners. In 1 Peter 2:11 the writer beseeches the sojourners “to abstain from the passions of the flesh.” These usages are consistent with those of the Hebrew Bible which see gēr as a sojourner in a foreign land.

[Raycpa]

>I>I don't read the Bible. Now what?

Don't be surprised when some Christians do read the bible and conclude like those in this article it is their duty to offer help to them.

[raybbr]

Don't be surprised when some Christians do read the bible and conclude like those in this article it is their duty to offer help to them.

Then they should suffer the consequences of their lawlessness.

[Raycpa]

Two questions.

1) How does this differ with the status of the illegal alien? He doesn't have full rights. Did Mosaic law call for throwing them out? Did long term aliens get treated differently? When God gave his reasoning for treating aliens well, that the Hebrews were once aliens in Egypt for 400 years they were there longer than "temporary" was God exaggerating and he should have qualified it as being only nice to temporary aliens ? Is 400 temporary residence?

2) If the rules in Lev are only for "temporary" aliens, what rules are there for the "long term" alien or is this a distinction without a difference? Along similar lines, their are rules for aliens marrying, isn't there-wouldn't that contradict a solely temporary interpretation?

Also, please address the implications of "who is your neighbor/Samaritans etc" of the NT ?

[Pelayo]

Then they should suffer the consequences of their lawlessness.

So says Nero ;)

[MineralMan]

"I don't read the Bible. Now what?"

No problem. Here's what you do: Find illegal aliens in your area. Maybe you'll find them outside of Home Depot or Lowes, or at your local restaurant. Take their pictures.

Call the local police and report them. Call ICE and report them. Tell law enforcement where they live, what cars they drive (with license numbers), and where they are working. Report their law-breaking employers.

Then, sit back and watch for action from ICE and your local law enforcement personnel. Wait for it...I'm sure they'll be doing something real soon now about your report. It's just that it's coffee break time, and there are donuts to be eaten.

Well...shoot! They didn't do a thing about your reports of this criminal activity, eh? Well, I don't know. You could write your state and national legislators. Tell them about ICE and your local law enforcement's lack of action. I'm sure your legislators will jump right on it and make sure something's done.

What's that? You got a form letter back? Hmm...

Well, back to excoriating nuns, I guess...

[NY Attitude]

Aiding and abetting comes to mind.

[Raycpa]

Then they should suffer the consequences of their lawlessness.

Do you suggest stoning them as Stephen was stoned for disobeying the law to affirm the gospel?