Think or Swim

The current trouble in Arizona raises the question, "Is there a Christian view of illegal immigration?" I believe there is, but it is not simple. The most obvious starting point is the word “illegal.” The Bible teaches us to be subject to the powers that rule us. We are a nation of laws, without which our society could not exist. Therefore, Christians should not support law breakers unless the laws they break would force the law keeper to violate a higher law, namely, the teaching of Scripture. After the founding fathers, Martin Luther King is our country’s most renowned civil disobedient; his campaign to remove segregationist laws stands of firm biblical ground in my opinion.

But one must ask what higher law is violated by requiring immigrants to follow a prescribed method to enter the United States. Proponents of relaxed immigration laws play on public sympathy by detailing the sad plight of many people in Mexico. They need the financial opportunities provided by the US economy to support their families, so the argument goes. Christians have two options in response: charitable giving, a core principle, can be directed to truly needy people, and informed debate can be held regarding current immigration policies to see if allowing more immigrants or shortening the wait to emigrate would be beneficial to all parties concerned. Neither of these choices condones or supports law breaking.

There is a deeper issue implicit in this discussion. All societies have defining characteristics, primary among them are borders, language and culture. Borders define the extent to which societal expectations govern; language is the vehicle by which expectations are transmitted; culture is the text which describes the society. Our current problem at the Mexican border tramples all three of these. Illegal immigrants ignore the border crossing rules, speak primarily Spanish, and form culturally segregated barrios when they settle here. If you listen to the most radical among their number, they do not desire to assimilate; they have invented the term “reconquista” to imply not a friendly melting pot, but a forceful take-over.

The only nation that ever belonged to God was ancient Israel. God no longer chooses nations; he chooses individuals. Yet as His people in this nation, we have every right to order our society by standards which reflect biblical values if we have the votes to accomplish that. Set aside the fact that illegal immigrants are breaking the law simply by coming here; they are taxing an already overburdened system to the breaking point. Schools, hospitals and the courtrooms are being overrun by illegal immigrants in many parts of this country. This is costing legal citizens billions of dollars, a sum which we do not willingly pay. This is robbery. This is not something we need to condone, no matter how destitute the immigrants might be.

Christian charity does not require that we relinquish all rights to private property. Yet the move to allow unlimited numbers of immigrants into our country or to forgive those already here illegally effectively does this. The debate over Arizona's effort to curb the cost of illegals in their state suggests some people believe only the illegals have rights. Although we are a rich country, we do not have unlimited resources. If we don't limit the number of people we invite in to eat at our table, soon there will not be enough food for anyone to make a meal.

When the Titanic went down, there were not enough lifeboats for all the passengers who were cast into the sea. The people who did have seats in the lifeboats had to make a terrible choice. Either limit the number of people in the boat or keep adding swimmers until they swamped the boat and everyone ended up back in the water. The world economy hit the iceberg some time ago; if we don't start making some hard choices, we may learn the answer to the old question, "How long can you tread water?"