"Unmentioned by Edgar are Scriptural teachings that uphold the authority of rulers to enforce laws, and the Apostle Paul's warning that 'all things must be done in order.' Even more disturbing was his blissful ignorance about ethical arguments against unregulated borders."    

In his final parting shot from the deficit plagued National Council of Churches (NCC), outgoing NCC chief Bob Edgar slammed advocates of immigration law enforcement as racist xenophobes.
 
"The fear mongers among us are devilishly clever," bemoaned Edgar, who is a United Methodist minister. "They have used nearly every scare tactic they can think of to reduce us to a highly suspicious lot all too willing to not love the alien as ourselves and to evict them from their homes, get them fired, separate them from their families, in an all out rampage of oppression and prejudice."
 
According to the simplistic lore of the Religious Left, nearly any restriction in immigration is immoral and a violation of Old Testament admonitions to care for the "sojourner."
 
Typically, the Religious Left does not routinely quote from Leviticus to make political points. But in what Edgar called a "word from our sponsor, the God of Abraham," he cited Leviticus' warning that "you shall not oppress the alien." Like a good Bible thumper, Edgar intoned: "That seems pretty clear. Don't you think?"
 
In fact, no. The Scriptures obviously call for treating everyone as created in the image of God. Enforcing immigration laws is not automatically an act of demeaning cruelty, fueled only by fear and resentment. The Bible, as on most political issues, offers little specific legislative guidance about immigration.
 
If the experience of ancient Israel is any example, no one should think that the Hebrews routinely permitted large numbers of foreigners to permanently relocate into their land. Most of the sojourners in the Scriptures reference were travelers passing through or nomads looking for temporary nourishment for their livestock. Aliens with plans to remain indefinitely in ancient Israel were expected to live as Jews, worshipping the God of Abraham. The ancient Hebrews, with their stiff punishments for idolaters and pagans, were hardly open-border multiculturalists.
 
Exegetical scholarship does not typically interest the Religious Left unless it aims to overturn some orthodox theological doctrine or remove taboos against biblically prohibited sexual behavior. Bible verses urging decency for aliens and the poor are, for the Religious Left, definitive endorsements of unrestricted immigration and unlimited welfare statism. At this point they revert to the certainty of the fundamentalists they otherwise demean. After all, the Bible says it!
 
Tragically, many selfish Americans prefer to "ignore" what the Bible has to say on immigration, Edgar tut-tutted, especially blaming "national talk radio hosts, conservative blogs, and CNN's Lou Dobbs [for] trying to scare us." Edgar darkly noted that immigrants have become the "contemporary scapegoat" for high taxes, crowded schools and disease. "It's time we call it what it is," he intoned: "racism."
 
Edgar's evidence for all the "racism"? He noted that advocates of immigration law enforcement complain about the waving of the Mexican flag at pro-immigration rallies but are silent about Irish or Italian flags at ethnic events. "White immigrants get a pass," he sagely observed. "Brown immigrants do not."
 
Good try, Rev. Edgar! But hundreds of thousands of Irish and Italians are not currently walking across the U.S. border without regard for U.S. immigration law. And parades on St. Patrick's Day and Columbus Day are not typically loaded with political demands for open borders and non-enforcement of U.S. laws. The protesting Mexican flag wavers, in contrast, have been declaring their continued allegiance to a foreign state, even while they demand continued illegal residence in the United States and welfare benefits.
 
But Edgar can discern only sinister motives behind calls for immigration law enforcement: "Demagogues keep preying on post-9/11 fear to whip up hatred and suspicion of people who have come here in search of the same thing my northern European ancestors were seeking." Edgar wondered why immigration enforcement advocates aren't demanding a fence on the Canadian border. Clearly it's racism! Apparently he is not aware that hundreds of thousands of Canadians are not routinely walking into the U.S. and taking up illegal residence.
 
"I wonder about those who say America is God's anointed land, a shining city on a hill, the nation blessed by God," Edgar sanctimoniously concluded. "It seems before God will dwell with us in this land we had better change our ways and 'truly act justly one with another' regardless of where we were born or the color of our skin."
 
Unmentioned by Edgar are Scriptural teachings that uphold the authority of rulers to enforce laws, and the Apostle Paul's warning that "all things must be done in order." Even more disturbing was his blissful ignorance about ethical arguments against unregulated borders. How does unrestricted immigration affect America's poor? And how does unrestricted immigration distort the economics and demographics of Mexico? Should Mexico's poor not have economic options other than having to relocate to another country? Will Mexico ever reform economically as long as the U.S. serves as its population safety valve?
 
Perhaps more to the point, can anyone legitimately disagree with Rev. Edgar's facile Bible proof-texting without being smeared as an unChristian racist?