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When I hear politicians stoking passions with rhetoric like "Immigration is a grave crisis threatening our American way
of life," it sounds just like the fearful cries politicians used in my childhood, when they convinced Southerners that
"Integration is a grave crisis threatening our Southern way of life." Scapegoating immigrants is the 21st century's
race card. It plays on our culture's fears and prejudice. It is sinful.
One state candidate who puts a Christian symbol on his campaign posters advocates withholding Medicaid funds for medical
care for undocumented immigrants. He reminds me of the priest and the Levite in Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan. They
walked by the injured person on the side of the road and refused compassion. What would Jesus do? Jesus didn't ask, "Are
you Jewish? Have you paid your taxes?" before healing the sick. He responded with compassion in the presence of human
need.
The Biblical mandate is clear. When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien
who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in
the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19: 33-34)
On this Labor Day, imagine a modified rapture. What if in a twinkling of an eye all of the undocumented immigrants were
raptured out of America and the rest of us were "left behind"? Can you see the headlines? -- Boom to Bust: Construction
Paralyzed in Northwest Arkansas. Hospitality Industry Shut Down: Restaurants and Hotels Close for Lack of Labor. Economists
Predict Era of Hyperinflation as Wages Soar. Agribusiness Crippled: Farms and Poultry Industries Hit Hard. I hope everyone
saw the study released by the Pew Hispanic Center showing no correlation between employment opportunities for American workers
and the presence of foreign workers. We're all better off with than without our undocumented workers.
Sometimes we seem like a hard-hearted people. Our government's immigration service severely limits the number of workers
who can come legally into our country to meet the need of our robust free-market system. Then when willing workers risk great
dangers to pursue the American dream, we threaten and scapegoat them for supplying our demand.
We carefully manipulate the money-supply, authorizing the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates to prevent any risk
of inflation. Whenever the unemployment rate drops below 5% the Fed's antenna goes up, along with the rates. Then we threaten
that same unemployed 5% with withdrawal of unemployment insurance even though our whole system would collapse if they all
suddenly got jobs.
The dignity and importance of work is a significant Biblical theme. The prophets deman just pay for a worker's labor.
Jesus' prayer asks give us this day our daily bread. It is a terrible thing when a person can work full time and not escape
poverty. That's the situation for millions of Americans, compellingly narrated in Barbara Ehrenreich's book Nickel and Dimed.
She was healthy, skilled, a Ph.D. with car and no debts. Her editor assigned her the task of supporting herself on service
sector jobs. She couldn't make it. Her book tells the story.
The federal minimum wage is 30% lower today than it was in 1979, adjusted for inflation. Earlier this year when progressive
legislators tried to raise the minimum wage, Republican leaders poisoned it by tying to the bill the "Paris Hilton Relief
Act" which tried to lower estate taxes for mult-millionaire heirs, a proposal which would add another $1 trillion to
the burgeoning federal debt over the next decade.
The prophets cry out. The powerful dictate what they desire, thus they pervert justice. (Micah 7:3) Ah, you who join
house to house, who add field to field, until there is room for no one but you, and you are left to live alone in the midst
of the land. (Isaiah 5:8) They do not judge with justice the cause of the orphan, to make it prosper, and they do not defend
the rights of the needy. (Jeremiah 5:28) Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
...Shall not the land tremble on this account. (Amos 7:4, 8)
Labor Day is a day to pray for justice and to recognize the interdependence of our work. Almighty God, you have so linked
our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide us in the work we do, that
we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good; and as we seek a proper return for our own labor, make us mindful
of the rightful aspirations of other workers, and around our concern for those who are out of work... Amen. (For Labor Day,
Book of Common Prayer, p. 261)
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