Forgotten Mercy: Those Who Want Christianity in Public Schools

God is love.

~1 John 4:8.

Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me.

~Matthew 25:40

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

~Hebrews 13:2

Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.

~Matthew 19:24

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The Separation of Church and State recognizes that not everyone shares the same beliefs, even within Christian churches. Some people are agnostic, and others are atheists. Benjamin Franklin donated money to various churches to ensure that America would be a welcoming country for people of many religions.

In America, we protect all religious viewpoints; public schools must remain neutral on matters of religion to accommodate every student.

But it’s hard not to wonder how children would be taught Christianity in their schools today, if allowed, or how Christian parochial schools are doing it, upon observing so many Biblical directives being ignored or flagrantly violated when it comes to political events, and more specifically, here, the mistreatment of undocumented immigrants.

How would you and how do you teach kids about the Bible when it looks like those in charge are ignoring Christ?

My grandparents were immigrants. I’m grateful to them. They proudly worked hard in a country that wasn’t perfect, enduring an awful depression, so those who followed could live a better life. It’s hard to understand the current system that doesn’t offer a clear, fair pathway to citizenship for today’s immigrants. That there isn’t a better way for those who aren’t criminals who want to live here and who are helped to do so.

Found on the base of the Statue of Liberty.

…Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

The Bible teaches how we should behave and to love one another, and it makes no sense that this doesn’t apply to immigrants. Specific Bible verses stand out, and I listed a few of my favorites above.

Knowing these Bible verses often makes me wonder about today’s Christian claims and what children must think. The confusion. Children usually know more than we give them credit, and what they’re learning in this moment will carry them into adulthood.

Watching ICE agents arrest undocumented immigrants, including examples of apprehending mothers in school pickup lines and overnight apartment raids, shows that cruelty is on the uptick.

I can’t imagine Jesus, or at least the Jesus many of us learned about, would approve. It’s hard to understand how those who feel passionately about the Bible think that the current treatment of immigrants is o.k.

Along with the above, it’s strangely cruel to hear many arguing that immigrants don’t deserve health care. Wouldn’t Christ demand health care for everyone?

And who’s ensuring that undocumented immigrants are getting due process?

There’s so much more. As a teacher, and like many Americans, the America I want is one where we reach out and care for everyone, help all people the best we can.

Christians, who truly try to walk the walk, need Christ-like validation. Here’s an example of what I mean.

I like CNN’s Abby Phillip because she brings Republicans and Democrats together. She is a mediator, and helps bridge the divide that America needs, while encouraging people to confront those with whom they disagree face-to-face. This can be tricky, and sometimes there’s too much shouting for my taste, and sometimes I disagree with her, but the issues are there, and it’s good to see debate. I recommend the program.

Recently, Phillip had a guest, Van Lathan, who co-hosts a podcast called “Higher Learning.” Lathan downplayed himself as a Christian, a humbling moment, but spoke with much clarity in an interchange with Phil Williams who is a host for Rightside Radio.

Here’s the passage from the show’s transcript.

LATHAN: I’m not a good God-person. I’m not. I have a strong —

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: There’s a cure for that.

(CROSSTALK)

LATHAN: — unwavering belief that God is real. And that belief causes me a lot of shame. Sometimes I can see God looking at me and I wonder what God sees. But there’s one thing that I try to do in all the other ways that I fail. The greatest gift that God gave to humanity is humanity. And the number one thing that you are supposed to do is see God in each and every person that you look out at.

And that’s the trans kid hiding from their parents in their closet. That’s the black person under the boot of the police or systemic oppression. That is the migrant being stuffed in the back of the U- Haul. There’s God in it. You are treating the least of his people, at least as defined as this society, right there the least. And you’re commanded not to do it.

You don’t get to decide whether or not you love people and treat people humanly. You are commanded to do it by God, and you break his will and commandment if you don’t do it.

(CROSSTALK)

LATHAN: And furthermore, if you find reasons to explain why you’re doing that, then you’re willfully doing it.

Lathan is correct, immigrants moving here certainly aren’t meeting Jesus through many of the American citizens who control the country.

For those who want to make public schools Christian, make Bibles mandatory in public school classrooms, what is it you hope children will learn, when actions demonstrate something so profoundly and unjustly different?

Here’s Jesus in Luke 6:46:

Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? 

We observe crosses on individuals, who say and do seemingly cruel things. What are the cross-bearing folks telling Americans at this critical moment? That they can pick and choose the rules? Is it that some are better than others?

I wonder, when one dies, if there’s a pearly gate, will there be a reckoning? Who will be allowed in? Will self-serving hypocrisy be accepted?

Perhaps a little Sermon on the Mount is in order.

Just some Bible verses (above) to reflect upon, and a reminder of what America was supposed to stand for. Thanks for reading during these trying times.