…in a week. I’m tired of blogging, and I have projects that require my attention. Coincidentally, the Republican National Convention is this week. I doubt I’ll watch it.
I. That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety….
III. That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation or community; of all the various modes and forms of government that is best, which is capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety and is most effectually secured against the danger of maladministration; and that, whenever any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal.
IV. That no man, or set of men, are entitled to exclusive or separate emoluments or privileges from the community, but in consideration of public services; which, not being descendible, neither ought the offices of magistrate, legislator, or judge be hereditary.
— From the Virginia Declaration of Rights
Warning: Another long one!
This post may be referred to as “Part I” as I collect my thoughts on a Saturday morning. I never intended to blog about illegal immigration all week, but this post started it. After it received so many comments, I conducted further research and read reports, etc., to understand the policy implications of illegal immigration.
A few commenters grappled with what Christians should be doing/thinking about illegal immigration. These folks got my attention but never really fleshed out their thoughts. I will attempt to do so.
Let’s put aside the economic, social and cultural burdens illegal aliens impose on this country. From an economic standpoint, California is bearing enormous costs because of free medical care and overcrowding of government schools, for example. The budget shortfall in California is staggering ($38 billion? $40 billion?). Keep in mind that Governor Gray Davis was recalled for this reason.
It is not “un-Christian” to support restricted immigration into one’s country. It is not “un-Christian” to advocate deportation of illegal aliens. I challenge anyone to find in Scripture where such a concept is even hinted at.
Here’s the problem that arises when discussing biblical issues. In our secular society, humanistic philosophy is the norm. The Bible and God have been pushed out of government schools and the public sphere, and our society in general prefers that religious beliefs be kept private. In this regard, we don’t discuss these things in “mixed company.”
When referencing biblical things and speculating on “what Jesus would do,” there is a tendency among believers and unbelievers to argue philosophically rather than scripturally. I understand this temptation, especially when one doesn’t know what the Bible says about certain things. See Jesse Jackson’s Liberal Jesus, for example.
As a Christian, I look at it this way. My brothers and sisters in Christ come in all colors, shapes, sizes and countries. My fellow Christ followers are in Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Russia — in every country on the planet, including Mexico.
Among illegal aliens I have brothers and sisters in Christ. The call to share the Gospel with unbelievers and worship a merciful and gracious God with believers doesn’t stop at our national borders. God saves all kind of men, and all kinds of men are my fellow inheritors of Christ’s bounty!
However, I am not required to ignore or oppose justice against lawbreakers, even if they are believers. Government is supposed to punish lawbreakers, and Christian criminals are not excepted. God appointed men to authority and laid down the function and role of government. In that same vein, as an aside, it is not unbiblical to support war. I’ve written about the role of government and a biblical view of war in a few posts:
Continue reading Illegal Immigration From A Biblical Point of View
A few announcements:
- Remember the freelance writer who wrote “Blogging Brothers (and Sisters)” for NRO? He and his friend Stephen have started blogging (using nicknames). Welcome to the blogosphere!
- See this week’s installments of the Christian Carnival and Carnival of the Vanities.
- No Walter Williams live on the Rush Limbaugh Show today.
La Reconquista! When I read Pat Buchanan’s book two years ago, I thought it was alarmist. He’s overstating his case to scare people, I thought. Not anymore.
Buchanan’s main points are easily verifiable by simply observing the culture. By 2050, America will be a Third World nation. With the influx of non-assimilating cultures, I see it happening as clear as day (although I probably won’t be around to see it). From Publisher’s Weekly:
“Historians may one day call ‘the pill’ the suicide tablet of the West,” writes former presidential candidate Buchanan in this cri de coeur regarding the perils that await Western civilization. And he is correct in his assessment that the advent of artificial contraception brought about huge changes in the ways American and European cultures dealt with sex, children and family. Buchanan, a staunch Roman Catholic and a conservative, feels that these changes were socially and politically disastrous.Worried about the declining birth rate of European-Americans and increased immigration from nonwhite countries, Buchanan predicts that people who are now celebrating diversity “will spend their golden years in a Third World America.” Along with shifting racial demographics, Buchanan also frets about the changes in morality “rampant promiscuity and wholesale divorce and tax-payer funding of abortion.” Buchanan is equally upfront about his position on homosexuality: “had the killers of Matthew Shepard chosen a sixteen-year-old girl rather than a twenty-one-year-old gay man, her rape-murder would have been to me an even greater evil.” Fearful that American is being “de-Christianized,” Buchanan argues that “while the prognosis is not good,” America must reevaluate itself and reclaim its white, Christian origins; despite the current “coarseness of her manners, the decadence of her culture, or the sickness in her soul,” the nation is worth saving. Buchanan’s passionately expressed ideology will be too extreme for most readers, and its proud bigotry is unlikely to play well even among most conservatives.
Filed under: Cultural Decline, Illegal Aliens
From the Associated Press:
A claim of responsibility for the downing of two Russian planes appeared on a Web site known for militant Muslim comment Friday.The statement, which accused Russians of killing Muslims in Chechnya, was signed “the Islambouli Brigades.” A group with a similar name has claimed at least one previous attack, but the legitimacy of the group and the authenticity of such statements could not be verified.
Russian officials have said terrorism was the most likely cause of Tuesday’s plane crashes, which killed 89 people.
“We in the Islambouli Brigades announce that our holy warriors managed to hijack two Russian planes and were crowned with success though they faced problems at the beginning,” the statement said without elaborating on the problems.
This is the epitome of evil, just in case some of you don’t know what it looks like.
See stories from the Herald Sun and the BBC. But, alas, there’s good news. The “holy” temple in Najaf is still standing! All’s well with the world! Maybe the Islamofacists hiding in our country (and laughing at our suicidal stupidity) will take their toys and go home now.
Or not.
(Hat tip: Ramblings’ Journal)
Update I: Muslims For Bush
(Hat tip: One Hand Clapping)
Update II: I just heard on the news that homicidal bombers brought down the two planes. Looks like the Russians will have to impanel an 8/24 Commission. Islamofascism must be contained by any means necessary.
Update III: This is a darn shame: Al Qaeda May Target Veterans Hospitals, U.S. Says. Just think, some of the potential Middle Eastern thug murderers may have slipped in through our southern border. We’ll certainly here about it if any veterans hospital is attacked.
Yuck. I’m stuck between MoveOn.org and Liberal Oasis. And I don’t know what Scripting News is.
I’ve often asked, “Who’s advising Bush and what was he/she thinking?” I’ve never paid much attention to Karl Rove, who apparently stays behind the scenes (in hiding?). As President Bush’s “chief strategist”, he’s giving the leader of the free world some dumb advice.
Take the amnesty for illegal aliens scheme, for example. If I ever met him in person, he wouldn’t like me — just like liberals out there in the blogosphere — because I’d tell him exactly what I think of his advice. Dump Karl Rove!
Yesterday’s illegal immigration post was sort of contentious. I like a rigorous discussion, and illegal immigration is an issue that needs to be discussed. Our country can’t afford not to. Some people are so afraid of being called a “racist.” I’m not one of those people. Encouraging more Mexican immigrants to swarm into the country illegally was a dumb idea. But I guess Rove thought that pandering to Hispanics was the way to go. Good luck with all that.
It’s times like these when I’m glad I’m not a registered Republican. It’s funny how some black liberals castigate me for “espousing partisan rhetoric” and advise me to be “more independent”, and they’re the ones who are registered Democrats “espousing” their own rhetoric! Hypocrites. Wake me up when it’s over.
No, it’s not a reference to the Democratic candidates.
It’s all about the voters in Florida, who can’t seem to cast a simple ballot. I hope they don’t embarrass the country this time around. Taxpayers’ money would be well-spent on mass copies of such a book.
According to liberal race-mongering hounds, we black folks just can’t seem to do anything right. Check out this paranoid article I found in a paper called In These Times, subtitled Independent News and Views (yeah, OK). Juan Gonzalez writes about the apparent ineptitude…I mean, disenfranchisement of black voters in Florida.
To Bush loyalists [Is he talking about me?], and cynics in general, these statistics prove only that many uneducated black voters haven’t a clue as to what they’re doing in the voting booth — and if they can’t read instructions and lose their vote, that’s their problem. [It’s my problem?] It is clear, however, that badly designed ballots in some counties made things worse. [Bureaucratic sloppiness is now called “racism.”] Palm Beach’s butterfly ballot is already the stuff of legend. In Duval County, the official sample ballot produced by the county’s Republican canvassing board instructed voters to “vote on every page” and listed all presidential candidates on a single page. But the actual ballot, only half the size of the sample, listed the candidates on two pages and directed, in small print: “Vote appropriate pages.”In reality, no one in Florida was prepared for the enormous turnout of black voters on Election Day. While 540,000 blacks voted in the 1996 presidential election, this year 893,00 showed up at the polls, a 65 percent increase. That number would have been even greater were it not for the hundreds and perhaps thousands of blacks denied the right to vote because their names did not appear on voter rolls or because they had been mistakenly purged as convicted felons [We just can’t seem to cope with life’s unfairness]. And of course, it does not include the 400,000 black men who, because of a single felony conviction, are banned for life from voting in the Sunshine State. [Poor felons…, I mean fellas.]
As is typical of liberal hysteria and hype, Gonzalez is incorrect about the “enormous turnout” of black voters, at least according to Frank J. Murray, writing for the Washington Times:
Widely quoted assertions that black voters cast 15 percent of Florida’s ballots in the 2000 presidential election are wrong far beyond any acceptable margin of error, The Washington Times has learned.
Official computerized reports obtained by The Times, identifying each voter by name and race, contradict claims that turnout by blacks has increased by more than 50 percent since 1996. Contrary to all reports, black voters on Nov. 7 constituted 10 percent of Florida’s turnout — 610,616 by actual count, as opposed to estimates that routinely top 900,000.
Simply achieving the widely reported 15 percent share of the turnout of 6,086,109 would require that an unheard of 97.7 percent of all black registered voters had gone to the polls. “People just throw out statistics. Where do they get this stuff? It’s basically a guess,” Clayton Roberts, who heads the Florida Division of Elections, told The Times before the full file was assembled.
The actual 10 percent black share of the votes cast on Nov. 7 rose only slightly from 1996’s official record, when blacks cast 9.5 percent of the 5.4 million votes.
But who cares about facts when there’s racial tension to stir up?
