Tag Archives: Immigration

Everybody’s mad and I don’t know why

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I put something on Twitter last week in response to something I keep seeing on Facebook. (My, how modern of me! Next I’ll be sending e-mail) What I have seen too many times is friends of mine joining a group called “I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO PRESS 1 TO HEAR A MESSAGE IN ENGLISH… WE ARE IN AMERICA, LEARN THE LANGUAGE.”

There are quite a number of similar groups. So, before I get myself in trouble with a number of my friends, could somebody help me out… what is so terrible about having to press a button to choose your language? Why are so many people upset about this? I can definitely see being upset about voicemail systems; who doesn’t hate those?There are lots of aspects of that whole process that are highly annoying. Why focus on that one step?

What really gets to me is that most of these people who I know that are joining these groups are Christians. Can you figure out a reason why Christians would be joining in this?

Here’s your chance to clue in the clueless. What am I missing in all of this?

How legal need they be?

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Immigration marchI’ve worked in churches in two different cities that were reaching out to Hispanics, and I’ve come to see some of the same issues in both places. A significant segment of the Hispanic population is here illegally. As we reach out to these people, what obligation do we have to lead them to legalize their situation? Some say that if they become Christians, they must return to their home countries. Others disagree.

Something else I’ve come to see. Many of these people seek to avoid all things that will bring them under government scrutiny. This includes marriage. A growing number of them are living together because they don’t want to file paperwork with the government. As these people become Christians, what do we do with them? I’ve heard some say that we can offer them a “spiritual” ceremony without the marriage license. Others say that churches must follow the law, as must individual Christians. If these people want to become Christians, they must marry and face the legal consequences.

How would you deal with these sticky issues?