August 27, 2008
Opiate of the Open Borders Crowd?
Under Reverend Pastor Keith Mlyniec's "Engaged Citizen" post, commenter Rhody observes:
I love how the right has gotten so depenent on the clergy (not just Catholic, either) as an ideological enforcement agency.
It should be noted, firstly, that the desire for enforcement of US immigration laws is not an exclusive commodity of the "right", unless 75% of America is on the right.
As to the crux of Rhody's comment, let us pause to note how many clergy have spoken against the Governor's Executive Order. And have called upon us to stop enforcing our immigration laws. And cited scripture in the process. Conversely, how many have cautioned us not to selectively read scripture when approaching a particular issue? By my count, it is conservatively twenty to one.
One hundred and eighty degrees from Rhody's statement, it is rather those who inexplicably do not wish our borders and sovereignty enforced yet cannot convincingly make their case with substantive, reasoned arguments who have "gotten so dependent" on clergy, themselves motivated by misplaced compassion, in an attempt to guilt the general public into a reckless "ideology"; namely, the relaxing of our already generous immigration laws.
The clergy aren't fooling anyone here, it's all about the MONEY! Most, if not all Hispanic's are Catholic.
Posted by: Gary at August 27, 2008 6:07 AMGary-actually in the last few decades many Hispanics have been joining Protestant denominations,especially Pentecostal,but also some more traditional ones,such as Lutheran and Methodist.And let's not forget the significant numbers of Hispanic Mormons as a result of an ongoing missionary program in Latin America since the 60's.If you tune into public access tv,you'll see what I mean.
Posted by: joe bernstein at August 27, 2008 8:51 AM While I am honored (!?) to have posted something that generated a post of its own, I was actually trying to make a different point, not so much about the immigration debate itself but about the rampant hostility Tobin has generated. Much of it seems to come from the people who were the most rah-rah about his aggressive stances against abortion and gay marriage.
I have new admiration for the bishop's willingness to stand in a firestorm and not cave in to the talk radio crowd's demands. While I will still disagree with him often, he's certainly gained my respect.
Christ wouldn't have caved, either.
rhody, please leave Christ out of the matter. Christ represented the son of God and acted according to his father's word. Bishop Tobin represents his own ego.
One I gladly follow, the other...well, I'll get back to you on that because I can't think of a good thing to say about him.
Posted by: Roland at August 29, 2008 1:23 AM