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Date: December 14, 2015 02:22AM
INTRODUCTION
There appears to be a perplexing tendency in some quarters of this country (which, by the way, my grandfather Ezra Taft was famous in Mormon circles for calling "the Lord's base of operations") to ignore both basic Christian morality and what loyal LDSers claim to be the guidance of their Elohim-directed U.S. Constitution when it comes to accommodating those wishing to enter America's harbor and eventually become American citizens.
It is reasonable, I believe, for those who regard themselves as Christians, constitutionalists or both to open their Bibles (and even their Book of Mormons, if that's what it takes)-- along with cracking a Civics 101 textbook--to what Jesus and the Founders thought and taught about how to meet, greet and treat those who wish to come ashore and eventually earn American citizenship.
It’s important for folks to familiarize themselves with the canon and the Constitution on such matters (since, of course, Mormons claim that the Founders were divinely inspired to craft that document and, as an eternal gift for having done such a fine job, have since been necro-dunked into the eternal lap of the LDS Lord).
Are we good so far? Hope so.
So, at least for the sake of argument if nothing else, let’s look to The Word--as found in both the Bible and the U.S. Constitution--to see what powers and duties are set forth when it comes to dealing with seeking safekeeping in the arms of Lady Liberty.
Put another way, let's find out what would Jesus (Christ), George (Washington} and Thomas (Jefferson) would do.
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--The Bible, the Teachings of Jesus and How to Treat Strangers According to What Christians Supposedly Regard as the Law of God
“[It has been argued by some] that the American government should . . . focus [not on helping incoming Muslims but] on helping [incoming] Christians alone. In essence, [it should, the argument goes] perform a religion test to determine who is a Christian and who is a Muslim, and only offer assistance to those that come up Christian. . . .
“What is a Christian? . . .
“. . . [I]n the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 7 verse 16, Jesus states, ‘By their fruit, you will know them.’ Another verse claims that fruit to be ‘love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.’
“Jesus, though, to be clear, spelled out exactly what it means to be a Christian, in Matthew 25:35-36. Let's examine it. There, it states, ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“In the verses that followed, Jesus then stated that if you failed to care for the ‘least of these’ around you--the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the needy, the imprisoned--you failed to care for God. . . .
“The Bible spells out very clearly how we are to treat immigrants. It states, ‘When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.’ . . .”
(“. . . Push to Exclude Muslim[s] . . . on Basis of Faith Doesn't Sound Very Christian,” by Shaun King, “New York Daily News,” 16 November 2015)
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--The Constitution, the Teachings of the Founders and How to Treat Those Coming to America According to the Law of the Land
“. . . [O]ne of the basic premises of the American experiment is that this country does not apply religious tests in establishing programs and policies, regulations and rules. . . . [Yet, assertions have been made] that the United States must block [Muslims] . . . from entering this country, . . . [and] that [they] should be barred, while Christian[s] . . . should be admitted. . . .
“[This] ignores. . . the reality of the American experiment, . . . [amounting to] the sort of scapegoating and fear-mongering that America’s Founders sought to guard against. . . .
“[T]he . . . Constitution establishes that ‘no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States’ [See Article 6, paragraph 3]. This protection against a ‘religious test’ has historically been understood as part of a broad constitutional barrier to policies that discriminate against a particular religion or religions.
“To suggest that this standard might exclude any religion is, by contemporary and historic measures, absurd. Freedom of religion is an essential premise of the American experiment, put in place by founders who understood that the United States was settled by members of religious minorities who fled intolerance. . . . [To] suggest that a religious test be applied to favor some religious [believers] while discriminating against others neglects American history--and American values. And understanding that followers of all religions are entitled to equal protection under the law . . . is the hard-wired reality of the United States.
“The American history of welcoming Christians, Jews, and, yes, Muslims, is as old as the American experiment. This country’s Founders recognized Islam as one of the world’s great religions, and interacted with followers of Islam. There are records dating from as far back as the 16th century of Muslims living in what is now the United States of America.
"The first country to recognize the new United States was the Sultanate of Morocco (the ruler of which, Mohammed ben Abdallah, corresponded with President George Washington).
"John Adams referred in his 1776 essay, ‘Thoughts on Government,’ to the prophet Muhammad as one of many ‘sober inquirers after truth.’
"Thomas Jefferson owned and consulted a copy of George Sale’s English translation of the Koran. . . .
“. . . For a number of years now there has been a concerted effort by sincere if misguided religious zealots . . . [who wish] to redefine the American experiment as a Christian religious endeavor. History does not provide grounding for this fantasy. The Founders of the country were men and women of the Enlightenment who, while surely imperfect in their thoughts and deeds, wisely sought to burst the chains of what Thomas Jefferson referred to as 'monkish ignorance and superstition.’ Many of the Founders embraced faith traditions. But they revolted against the ‘divine right of kings,’ rejected the construct of state-sponsored churches, and wrote a Constitution that guaranteed freedom of religion.
“What Jefferson understood as ‘a wall of separation between Church and State’ (as described in his letter to the Danbury Baptists) remains one of the great contributions of the American experiment to a world that in his time was only beginning to respect the view that ‘religion is a matter which lies solely between Man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship.’
“This is not a Christian premise. This is not a Muslim premise. This is an American premise. To deny it is . . . shameful. “
(". . . [U]sing Religious Tests to Bar [Others] from the U.S.,” by John Nichols, "Nation" magazine, 17 November 2015
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CONCLUSION: So, Go Ahead and Ask Them
When it comes to handling the plight of strangers desperately searching for safety in a strange but what has been touted by Americans as an historically-beckoning land, we might ask, "What would Jesus do?" And as a corollary, “What would the Founders do?”
The answer are found in the Bible and the Constitution: Welcome them.
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(Originally posted by Steve Benson. Posted again by Steve as my final farewell to Rfm)