Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Let The Little Children Come

Let The Little Children Come

Last updated on: July 9, 2014 at 11:18 am by Christy Thomas

Let The Little Children Come 2014-07-09T11:18:17-05:00 Christy Thomas

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

US Detention Facility from http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/

What are we going to do about the children?

Anyone close to news sources knows about the increasingly large number of unaccompanied children making their way to the US through our permeable borders. They make the trek by God only knows what horrific means of transport.

I have heard an estimate of about 72,000 coming in this year and perhaps up to 90,000 next year.

They come, not just from the increasing economic and social chaos to be found in Mexico, but from further south, from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, all societies rife with violence and terror.

Parents are apparently sending them, hoping they make it and can live more safely here. Maybe . . . and maybe not. Frankly some of our exceedingly dangerous, poverty-stricken and drug-infested inner city areas easily rival those nations for violence and danger. For example, Chicago, IL, saw 84 shootings over the Fourth of July weekend.

Even so, I can’t begin to fathom the depth of human suffering that is represented by these lonely and scared children.

And what are we going to do?

This is not a simple case of, “Well, anyone who loves children is of course going to keep them here.” Such a statement implies that anyone who has hesitations about this must necessarily hate children.

So far from the truth. Let’s all hold off making judgments here and recognize that there are no simple and right solutions.

Every decision made carries myriads of implications and repercussions. And none of us know what the unintended consequences will be of any decision made, especially one like this.

Yes, Jesus is quoted as having said, “”Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”

However, an undocumented child coming to the US is not necessarily coming to Jesus. First of all, this is hardly a Christian nation, and those children are coming to the US Government, not to religious communities. And, unfortunately, religious communities are not always the safest place for children anyway. Furthermore, Jesus is also back in their homeland–as are their what I can only assume are agonized families.

So what are we going to do?

I don’t know. But, one of the hallmarks of a just and righteous society is how it treats the sojourners, the foreigners, the lonely and lost and least of these. I think the Scriptures speak strongly to this–we who have much and live in some safety have obligations to those who have less and live in danger.

The plaque with Emma Lazarus’ poem sits on the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Except for the small number of Native Americans among us, pretty well all US citizens could trace our ancestry to someone who was tired, poor, and yearning to breathe free.

They came to this country with that hope.

The need for freedom springs from the depths of human consciousness. No one wants to be enslaved. No one wants to live in fear, without hope and subject to cruel and arbitrary powers. No one.

The idea of even one child suffering at the hands of terrorists nearly drives me over the edge of personal pain–but there are millions of them around the world suffering right now. Who knows how many have been killed or injured in the time it took me to write this article or you to read it? Probably too many to count.

Of course it is wrong. So what are we going to do?

If we take them all in, more children could easily end up dying by being exploited by unscrupulous traffickers. Such despicable people promise safe passage to parents, take money and then dump the children or use them for sex or forced labor, never to be heard of again.

There is not one easy answer here. We all need to take a deep breath, stop, pray and think about what each of us can do, be in small or be it large, to offer protection to every child born on this planet.

[Note: this article is slated to run in the Friday, July 11, 2014 edition of the Denton Record-Chronicle.

Undocumented children

Previous Post

July 4, 2014

Our Oaths of Citizenship: Earthly and Heavenly

Next Post

July 16, 2014 War is Normal; Peace is the Anomaly

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category " obedience abortion accommodation accountability administration adolescence Advent advice an ordinary death anxiety apology apportionments Ash Wednesday ask thoughtfulpastor baptism betrayal Bible bondage calling certainty change character charity children Christianity Christmas church church as garden clergy clergy credentials closure comfort compassion competition compromise Confirmation conservation conservative conspiracy theories consumer conversion coronavirua corruption courage covenant cultural context death Deconstruction discipleship discord divorce doctrine doing good drugs dysfunctional Easter Easter; Resurrection education election entertainment envy escape evaluation evil exclusive church exercise faith faithfulness family fasting fear feast featured film review finances first world problem food forgiveness fundamentalist garden gay marriage General Conference generosity giving thanks GLBT glory good government grace guilt habit happy harmony hateful acts healing health health care heaven hell hello/goodbye heresy hidden agenda holiness homelessness homosexuality humility hymn hypocrisy Imago Dei In training inclusive church indulgence injustice innocents insurance intolerance itinerancy joy Justice kindness Kingdom of Heave kingdom of heaven language laughter laundry lawsuit leadership Lent LGBTQ liberal life Little Things Matter longform meandering thoughts memories mercy metaphor metrics miracle misfortunes morality Mormon Muslim mystery worship natural disasters New Category Name nutrients older adults oppression pain Paleo paperwork partnered pastor peace pension pharmaceutical placebo politics poverty prayer privilege public schools questions quiet racism rain reason reconciliation religion repentance requirements rescue respect rest resurrection retirement Sabbath sacrament sacred salvation same-sex marriage sanctuary schism schooling science SCOTUS secrecy separation of church and state sexism sexuality short cuts silence sin sleep soil spiritual journey stillness suffering surgery sustainable church teacher technology thank you theology therapy thinking tolerance TOS trust truth Uncategorized welcome Why Easter? wisdom women worship

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 December 2025 October 2025 September 2025 July 2025 June 2025 March 2025 February 2025 December 2024 November 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 April 2024 March 2024 January 2024 December 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 October 2022 September 2022 July 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 October 2021 July 2021 June 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 January 2020 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 July 2007 March 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz