It would appear that the “wall of separation” between church and state — useful for repressing dissent — has suffered some inconvenient breaches. MSNBC news anchor Ali Velshi’s abuse of scripture to counter Attorney General Jeff Session’s use of scripture is a case in point. Not only did Velshi misrepresent Session’s uallusion to Romans 13:1-7, he misleadingly asserts that this was cited in defense of “ripping children apart from their families.” Hardly. Sessions was addressing lawfulness; Velshi was weaponizing the Bible.

Here is the real issue: parents are attempting to enter this country and are using their children as legal shields and are intentionally creating the crisis. They know the law, and they are roping their children into the resulting mess. That is not the government’s problem, and it is the parents’ responsibility — rather like compelling your children to play in busy streets and protesting when they get run over. Shame on the parents and shame on the politicians making hay out of this issue.

Let’s be clear where the real heartlessnes is — opportunistic politicians. If they really cared, they would put in the effort to change the law, and they would stop maligning who those enforce the laws we have.

The Bible actually does have helpful passages on the treatment of aliens and immigrants, but those verses (urging justice, compassion, lawfulness) are not being accurately cited. They should be. “Suffer the little children to come unto Me” is about access to God, not about immigration. Before you cite the Bible, it would be well to understand it. Do keep the children out of the street.

Sam Richards

East Winthrop

Copy the Story Link