Oh. My. God.
No, really... God? Look, if you read the wire (and I believe you do), could you do something, send a burning bush, an Angel of the Lord, a Bolt-Out-Of-The-Blue™, send something to these nimrods? Please?
At House Judiciary Commitee meetings on immigration reform, the Southern Baptist Convention's President Richard Land, who, in support of reform, schooled the congregation thusly:
"[We] recognize a biblical mandate to care for 'the least of these among us' (Matthew 25:34-40), to care for the 'strangers' who reside in our land (Leviticus 19:34; Hebrews 13:2) and to act justly and mercifully (Micah 6:8). [... there is] a divine mandate to act redemptively and compassionately toward those who are in need."
Yeah... you gotta know that kind of anti-American, hippy talk wasn't going to unchallenged by House Republicans on the committee.
Rep. Steve King of Iowa goes to bat for the poor downtrodden of the American Transvaal who want nothing more than SB 1070 to allow the cops to roust those horrible brown people; take it away Steve:
"I didn't realize that the Bible barred the enforcement of immigration laws," he remarked sarcastically, "and neither did I realize that it erased borders, demanded pathways to citizenship for illegal immigrants, or ... forbid the leaders of a nation from caring most about the well-being of its own citizens."
Ahh, the Chewbacca Defense. Changing the subject; you almost tripped me up with that clever high school debating ploy... look at the monkey, look at the silly monkey!
But unfortunately Steve, Christ does instruct us Christians, rather explicitly, on priorities vis a vis those who are not "us." So the folks of the Freedom Loving White People's Democratic Free State of Arizona are going to have to look elsewhere for moral justification.
Really though, for the good stuff, you just can't beat the guys from Planet Texas, where, as we have previously noted, being offensive is considered a birthright. Let Rep. Lamar Smith show us all how it's done:
Smith pointed out that 'the Bible contains numerous passages that support the rule of law" -- such as, "Let every person be subject to governing authorities," from Romans 13:1-7.
He also insisted that the line from Leviticus cited by Land -- "When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong" -- should not be taken as meaning that "foreigners should disregard civil laws to enter or that we should overlook it when they do." And he argued that Matthew's injunction -- to care for "the least of these my brothers" -- "advocates individual acts of kindness (but) does not mandate a public policy."
Really Lamar? The Bible doesn't mandate public policy? I'll keep that in mind, the next time you want to outlaw gays and lesbians, bring Christian prayer into the public school classroom or bar lawyers from taking fees in Establishment Clause cases... (yeah, they really floated that last one about three years ago...)
So let's see if I can follow the reasoning. Whereas the injunction to care for the least of my brothers advocates individual acts of kindness, and whereas Government is individuals joining in society for mutual governance and promoting the common good (or so says our Constitution), and whereas Government is the tool by which the masses of individuals make that common good known and instituted, therefore, God says screw the immigrants!
Really? Is that how that goes Lamar?
It's all so clear to me now...
mojo sends
