{"id":337,"date":"2007-05-01T10:46:00","date_gmt":"2007-05-01T10:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jwalking\/2007\/05\/illegals.html"},"modified":"2007-05-01T10:46:00","modified_gmt":"2007-05-01T10:46:00","slug":"illegals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jwalking\/2007\/05\/illegals.html","title":{"rendered":"“Illegals”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some say that America is the “shining city on a hill.” If that is true then we are a pathetic city if we are trying to rid ourselves of “the illegals.”<\/a><\/p>\n

I have my own problems with that metaphor. There was but one shining city on a hill and it wasn’t America – it was Jerusalem, it was the temple. But moving beyond my objections to the comparison, America has always been a country to welcome those who wanted to come. It is etched on the base of the Statue of Liberty:<\/p>\n

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

More and more we are becoming less and less that country. Some on Capitol Hill are trying, quite literally, to deport all 12 million “illegal” immigrants to this country. Kick them out. Bye -bye. See ya. Gone. It doesn’t matter how many taxes they have paid or that their kids live here or that they are creating a better country – it doesn’t matter to some. Just kick them out. That isn’t a moral thing to do, it is a smart thing to do and it certainly isn’t a Christian thing to do.<\/p>\n

You know what it is? It is an example of prideful, greedy arrogance – not altogether different from when rich communities pass “bans on homelessness.” They aren’t ridding homelessness. They just don’t want to see it. America needs to be better than that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some say that America is the “shining city on a hill.” If that is true then we are a pathetic city if we are trying to rid ourselves of “the illegals.” I have my own problems with that metaphor. 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