Border Song and Immigration Laws

When does this madness stop?  Nine more states are looking into imposing an immigration law much like the one Arizona has passed this year.  While I won't spend time here rehashing the details of the law (for a general overview, just Google Arizona SB 1070 and you will get more than you care to see on the matter), I will say that my basic argument against this law and laws like it is that it leads to the same issues that many other laws like this (that I oppose) eventually lead to--racial profiling, civil rights violations, and quite simply, an inhospitable culture and community. 

The concept of hospitality and brother/sisterhood is generally where I am the most concerned.  Whether we recall racial conflicts, religious wars, GLBT concerns and issues, etc. the bottom line is that some majority has imposed on some minority the concept of being "less than" or "unequal."  Hospitality is one of the oldest concepts we have come to know.  Whether we consider Biblical teachings of Sodom and Gomorrah (sorry crazy right wingers--it's a story about being inhospitable at its very core) or we consider "The Golden Rule" that Christ, himself taught us (and is shared in the Gospels), we are called to remember to love God with all the strength we have, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Luke reminds us in 10:25-37 of how we inherit eternal life.  Love! 

Hospitality is a form of charity...think of how you receive guests into your home.  Think of how a receptionist is supposed to invite a client into a business office.  Think of how a doctor or nurse is supposed to receive a patient.  Think of your schools, your churches...many have a welcoming committee or some social structure that invites others to be a part of the community.  All of this is to be received, welcomed, have a sense of care and belonging to something, to someone, to some purpose. 

As we think about this immigration issue or as we consider the barriers we place upon people because they are "different" in race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. think about God's commandment of loving your neighbor.  I realize that people will have stories to share about how this "illegal" or that "queer" or that "nigger" or whatever else they can come up with to justify why certain laws should be on the books take place.  Some of us will even buy into them in a moment of panic or fear.  But in the end, think about the dangers of generalizing groups of people behind certain stories of individuals who may have done something bad or something that goes against one's way of thinking.  Also consider why some people are driven to the actions that they are driven to.  These are not excuses or justifications, but merely an attempt to get out of the danger of segregating the masses, of imposing one's will on someone else, or of wanting to bash another's civil rights for some illogical fear. 

We are all God's children.  We are called to love.  It's all we really have to do.