James Dobson published his July 2019 newsletter about his visit to a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol facility in Texas. He admits that the harsh conditions and frightened children brought him to tears. He then provides a series of arguments on why we need a wall to keep “these people” out of the United States.
Someone with a twisted perspective could use his exact words as an argument in favor of aborting unwanted children. Check this out:
“Many of them have no marketable skills.” I have never seen a baby born with marketable skills.
“They are illiterate.” Yeah, that applies to most babies, too.
“[They are] unhealthy.” If all those snotty-nosed kids would stop getting sick, everything would be a lot easier for the grownups. And, of course, there are so many babies with deformities and disabilities.
“Some are violent criminals.” Some of the children born this year will likely grow up and commit violent crimes. Maybe we should kill them all now to protect society.
“Their numbers will soon overwhelm the culture as we have known it.” What will the world be like when the old folks are dead and the young people are in charge?!
“It could bankrupt the nation.” You know how expensive children are . . .
During the recent Democratic debates, the candidates clamored to be the one most strongly in favor of “reproductive rights”. (If easy access to induced abortion is a reproductive right, then it’s only because the father and mother have already reproduced themselves . . . )
James Dobson and many Republican sympathizers think that Donald Trump is the only one “with political influence . . . who seems to care about the crisis at the border.” They think that letting poor immigrants into the U.S. will “take us down if we don’t deal with it.”
Neither party can claim exclusive rights to the moral high ground. The Consistent Life Network points out the inconsistency of politicians and pundits on both sides of the aisle. Instead of increased rhetoric, we should work together to find practical solutions to mitigate the factors leading to poverty, violence, abortion, and forced migration.
Activists from the Consistent Life Network in Washington, D.C. Source: CLN
I have written before about the benefits of welcoming refugees and the common theme in American history of being afraid of people who are different. This isn’t a new problem.
Imagine a nervous father and mother taking their young child on a long, dangerous journey. They are from a country ruled by a military dictatorship with lots of corruption. They are fleeing the threat of political persecution. This family crosses a desert to reach what they hope will be safety.
What would have happened if Joseph, Mary, and Jesus had shown up in Texas rather than Egypt? According to the grown-up Jesus, he is showing up at the U.S.-Mexico border right now (Matthew 25:40, 45).