You've seen the demonstrations. You've heard the debates. And if you're like me,

you are having a hard time figuring out where to stand on the immigration issue.

On the one hand, we Presbyterians want to be responsible and follow the law -- both

civil and religious. We know that good laws can bring order out of chaos,

and provide our society with safety and security. But on the other hand,

punitive laws such as those in the House immigration bill -- which make it illegal to

aid undocumented workers -- create a tension with religious commandments to give

aid to aliens.

 

One of the most powerful stories in the Judeo-Christian tradition is the exodus from

Egypt, when God leads his people out of captivity in Egypt, and sends them on a

journey to the promised land. This experience of being a stranger in a foreign land is

supposed to make us sensitive to the plight of aliens, and sympathetic to people who

are looking for their own "promised land." In addition, we know that outside

of biblical history this story has motivated generations of people to come to America

in search of a better life.

 

Churches are increasingly filling up with new waves of immigrants, forcing those of

us who are native-born Americans to rethink our attitudes towards newcomers from

Asia, Africa, and Latin America. My experience is that personal relationships are

developing that make it difficult to see people in black-and-white terms as "legal" or

"illegal." Any immigration policy that is going to be acceptable to members of our

congregations is going to have to balance legal obligations with the desire to help

people looking for a promised land.

 

According to SojoMail (April 26, 2006), a number of studies reveal that

undocumented immigrants are not the drain on the economy that so many

fear. Princeton University professor Douglass Massey has studied the contributions

of undocumented workers to the government: 62% have taxes withheld from their

paychecks, and 66% pay Social Security. Their payments to Social Security totaled

$7 billion in 2004, and in the same year they paid $1.5 billion to Medicare. Despite

these contributions, a recent poll taken in the state of Kansas revealed that nearly

three-quarters of adults in the survey agreed that "the United States should find and

deport all illegal immigrants."

 

We Presbyterians have a contribution to make to this debate, because we see the

value of being both obligation-keepers and liberation-seekers. We know that if we

become obsessed with the law, we will become like the Pharisees whom Jesus

condemned. But if we concentrate only on liberation, then we will wander in the

wilderness and fail to bring order out of our current chaos.

 

Instead of looking at today's immigration tension in political terms, let's examine it

through the lens of our Christian faith. It is only when we take both obligation and

liberation seriously that we will be able to come up with a solution that is faithful to

God and reflects our deepest convictions.

 

Find this article at:NCP Monthly May 2006

web: http://www.thepresbytery.org

Author's e-mail: henry@fairfaxpresby.com

Link to Henry Brinton's USA Today & Washington Post Articles Index Page

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