GOP Would Have Booted Jesus: Hill

New York Post Online ^ | March 23, 2006 | MAGGIE HABERMAN

[GiovannaNicoletta]

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton ratcheted up her talk about religion yesterday - saying a GOP-sponsored bill making it a felony to be in the United States illegally would have "criminalized" Jesus.

Clinton, who's considered the Democratic front-runner for the 2008 White House race, made the comments at a hastily scheduled news conference about the House-passed bill aimed at illegal immigrants.

[Busywhiskers]

"..a hastily scheduled news conference"

Must have been very hastily scheduled. Either she is talking gibberish or, since she is the smartest woman in the world, the subtlety and debth of her remarks are just beyond my feeble understanding.

[swain_forkbeard]

You've lost me totally. What bill is going to outlaw communion?

[beezdotcom]

You don't think that the law of the land back then allowed them to enslave and persecute immigrants/strangers/aliens?

I think the law of the land was facing much different dangers and pressures. I'm not sure how much concern there was with drug runners, terrorist cells, and bankrupting of government services unable to cope with the increased load.

Besides, I'm not sure that compassion dictates that we stupidly throw open the floodgates. I'm all for immigration, and I'm all for an influx of hard-working, good-hearted people - but you've got to get things in the right order. If you start whisperings of 'amnesty', before you show any ability to control the border, you start a 'gold rush' - you double the problem before you even get a chance to start solving it.

If people know that everyone who's illegally here by, say, Sept. 1 gets an easy path to guest worker status, don't you think that there will be a stampede of people who might not have risked it, otherwise? How many 'coyotes' will fleece them for HUGE bucks, how many will die in the desert, and how much more inundated will certain overburdened areas suddenly become?

No, the first step needs to be to firmly control the border. Then, the next steps need to be to ease legal immigration and disincentivize illegal immigration. That may or may not involve punitive measures against those who illegally arrived - but I'll say this: if you're not going to round them up and deport them, you darn well need to round them up, register them and put them in line behind the folks who LEGALLY immigrated here when it comes to public assistance and the like (you shouldn't be able to use an illegal immigrant to fulfill an ethnic quota, for example). Fostering a society where obeying the law gives you no more advantage than disobeying the law isn't compassionate to anyone.

[syriacus]

Someone asked what I would do if thousands showed up at my home hungry.

Are you saying that you would perform a miracle to feed them?

[manwiththehands]

Good point, but our Founding Fathers were not here "illegally", or at least not "illegal" enough to concern the crown. The "crown" only wanted our taxes and to exploit our wealth and success here.

We became "illegal" only after England refused to give us our freedom and Independence.

You might make the case that we were here "illegally" in the eyes of the natives, but even they were more interested in protecting their own tribes and interests. There was no "nation" before we settled here.

[Old_Mil]

Exodus 22: 21 "Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt.

Leviticus 19: 33 " 'When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. 34 The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

I can't help but notice that neither of those verses contains the adjective "illegal" before the noun "alien."

[syriacus]

Hillary has an estate.

She can set up a lot of tents for the illegals and Bill can contribute some of his speaker's fees to feed the folks and pay for the water for the showers and all. The Secret Service agents can provide the law and order.

The Clintons probably did the same thing for the poor folks in Arkansas. (Though Bill didn't get much for giving speeches then, so Hillary probably spent the money she got for serving on the Wal-mart Board.)

[syriacus]

You have totally missed the point about love

Love wasn't your point, it seems.

[syriacus]

Plenty of movie stars have estates near Hollywood.. Hillary should convince her favorite group of stars to house the homeless.

Between them, Susan Sarandon and Barbra Streisand should be able to house a few hundred illegal aliens.

[clawrence3]

"Convenient"? I was on-line for over two hours this morning rebutting everything under thye sun on this issue. Sorry that I have to, you know, actually work away from the computer at times that are inconvenient for you. If you don't think I'm even a Christian, though, then I'm happy just agreeing to disagree.

[clawrence3]

Read THIS bill Hillary is opposing, and then give me your legal opinion on whether "assiting" would include Holy Communion.

[aumrl]

Are you still here? Don't you believe in adhering to Mark16:15?

[SuziQ]

I'm not smoking crack.

Is your name Hillary Clinton?

[clawrence3]

No. Next question?

[clawrence3]

I am back, if that will do. At my church, we spread the Gospel here at home AND throughout the world. Surely, you can't use Mark 16:15 as some type of prohibition on spreading the Gospel here at home, especially in light of Acts 1:8 ". . . you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

[SuziQ]

Hillary is NOT correct. She's trying to equate Jesus with those who harbor illegal immigrants. Sorry, it doesn't fly. Jesus said to help the stranger. but He also said 'render unto Caesar what is Caesar's'; in other words, follow the law of the land.

[clawrence3]

Keep reading the rest of Romans 13 (after the part where, of course, we have to obey most of man's laws and pay taxes). God's law is "love" and if government passes a law that criminalizes "loving our neighbors as ourselves", guess which law we are to obey?

[No.6]

"Definition:
sojourner
a temporary inhabitant, a newcomer lacking inherited rights
of foreigners in Israel, though conceded rights"

That would be in contemporary terms a legal immigrant, either in the first case, on a visa, or in the second, a first-generation American. NOT an illegal.

[clawrence3]

Did Jesus make a distinction in offering eternal salvation between illegals or not? I seem to recall the woman brought to him to stone was caught red-handed in an illegal act worthy of the death penalty (He did tell her "Go and sin no more" I will grant you).

[clawrence3]

HR 4437 the Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act would require humanitarian groups --- including religious organizations --- to find out a person's legal status before offering any assistance, and would place stiff penalties on any individuals who assisted undocumented immigrants.