Week 2 Debate: A PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIAN APPROACH TO IMMIGRATION

By Dr. Linda Seger, author
Jesus Rode a Donkey: Why the Republicans Don’t Have a Corner on Christ

When a Progressive Christian looks at the challenges of immigration, we can define our approach as much by what we don’t do, as by what we do. We are not led by fear – the fear of the other, because we know that there is no Other, there is only Us. Much of the discussion of immigration comes from fear – fear that They will over-run our country, They will take over our jobs, They will bring in more crime, They will change our standard of living. We replace fear with compassion, and add mercy to justice, to deal with the problem of immigration through caring for those who are desperate enough to try to escape their country.

We recognize that walls and borders are separations and divisions that need to be replaced with spaces in our land and in our hearts that unify and equalize.

We take the Biblical passages very seriously that ask us to love the stranger (Deut. 10) and not to oppress the alien (Exodus 23). We are led to action through the Social Gospel, that asks us to bring the Good News to the poor, to bring release to the captive… to set at liberty those who are oppressed (Luke 4) and to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, clothe the naked, and welcome the stranger (Matthew 25). We are to do these to the least of us. We are commanded by Jesus Christ to respond to the alien who is a stranger to us, and who is the least – the outcast, the one without a place to call home. We believe that Biblical commands such as these, although challenging, are practical, not just idealistic.

We try to look at the roots of the problem of immigration – the oppression of the countries that force their citizens to flee in order to feed and clothe their children, and our own country’s use and abuse of the immigrants in order to keep up our own standard of living through the labor of the poor.

This means the problem has to be addressed through many avenues because of its complexity. Dennis Kucinich says “there are no illegal people”. We affirm the rights of all people – to health, to food, to care, to education, to justice. We work for fair treatment, that the stranger is not forgotten and further oppressed. We try to balance fair treatment for those within our country, with fair treatment for those coming to our country.

We recognize that some of the issue of immigration is really a straw dog – that needs to be studied and explored. This may not be the problem that it is made out to be, and that the issue may be blown, somewhat, out of proportion because our fear of the immigrant comes from both subtle and overt racism. We seem to be far more willing to welcome the northern European immigrant than the Middle-Easterner. We seem more willing to welcome the Hispanic from Spain, than the Hispanic from Mexico or El Salvador. We try to recognize our own racism, as well as recognize the racist roots of public policy.

As a Progressive Christian who is also a Quaker, my particular faith asks us to see “that of God” in our immigrant neighbors and to find humane ways to address the problem rather than add to the stranger’s already oppressive burden.