I generally do not agree with Glenn Beck on many issues. But, I am very impressed with how he has handled the immigration of children issue. On June 25, he announced a new program that all Christians should agree with. The Blaze reports it as:
Beck has stated that the Obama administration is “directly responsible” for the recent flood of illegal immigrants from Central America. And though he believes every person who crossed into the United States illegally must be sent home, Beck and the charity he founded, Mercury One, have chosen to do all they can to help ensure the refugees have basic necessities like food and water.
Notice how he handled the recent flood of child immigrants, because he handled it in a very Christian way. How did he handle it? By expressing his political opinion while offering loving Christian aid. That is an approach that has been seriously lacking in the USA for several years. Generally, the approach has been to express a political opinion and then engage in angry, self-righteous political action while ignoring those in need or those who could use a warm response. On this issue, Glenn Beck has not fallen into that trap. Rather, he has kept the appropriate balances.
Mr. Beck has every right, and even the responsibility, to express his political opinion, and he did. He has made it very clear that he believes that President Obama is responsible for the current flood at the border. He could have then gone on to support angry demonstrations. He could have used the crisis to further a political attack against the President. He could have ignored the actual people and simply objectivized them.
But, he did not. Instead, he took a courageous Christian stance. Having made it abundantly clear that his opinion is that President Obama has seriously mishandled the issue of immigration, he then made it clear that no one should take out their disagreement on children. Children need to be nurtured and cared for, regardless of their origins. He believes that all the children who crossed the border should be repatriated. But, he also believes that we must care for those children. We must join together as Christians to donate food and other essential household supplies so that the children do not suffer. Children are not responsible for being sent away and told to cross a border illegally. Children should not be made to suffer for the sins of adults. Regardless of whom you think are the guilty adults, children should be held close and warmly embraced.
And so, Mr. Beck has put together a drive to raise funds to send needed supplies to the various places where the children are being housed. This is a marvelous Christian response.
Politically, I disagree with Mr. Beck. I think that he is mistaken on the forced repatriations. I think the children should be classified as refugees rather than as criminals. I think our lack of attention to the countries closest to us (Central and South America) and our overabundance of attention to countries far away (Afghanistan and Iraq) are more the root of the crisis than any policy of President Obama. I could go on. But, I fully agree with Mr. Beck on our responsibility as Christians. We need to care for those children. We need to show them practical love. Even if we return all of them, they need to go back with memories that glow, with memories that tell them that the USA is a loving, kind place, that the USA is a place that loves children.
Whatever our disagreements, I suspect that if we were to treat them in a Christian fashion, the children who grow up to be adults, whether here or in Latin America, would remember the USA with appreciation, and with an understanding that we do stand for the correct treatment of people, regardless of race, color, creed, gender, or national origin.
Thank you for taking the stand you have taken, Mr. Beck. Thank you for insisting that children must be cared for. Thank you, on behalf of the rest of us who use the name of Christ.
Great post Father!