More Immigration Hand-Wringing
Pope Benedict XVI called on U.S. bishops last week to "continue to welcome the immigrants who join your ranks today, to share their joys and hopes, to support them in their sorrows and trials and to help them flourish in their new home." Mr. Tancredo's response was to accuse the pontiff of "faith-based marketing" and claim that "the pope's immigration comments may have less to do with spreading the gospel than they do about recruiting new members of the church."
Mr. Tancredo – who sports T-shirts that read "America Is Full" – also cited a March 1 Wall Street Journal editorial to support his argument.
The editorial concerned a new Pew survey on religion in the U.S. and noted that in recent decades the Catholic Church has been losing members among the native born but gaining them among the foreign born. "We'd encourage our friends on the right who want to limit immigration to consider the health of our churches," we wrote.
Read the whole thing here. Somebody needs to wake up on the Right and realize that anti-immigration is inherently broken. With all waves of immigration, the old Know-Nothing Party just comes out of the woodwork. Despite their feverish warnings of Armegeddon, the immigrants always end up integrating into American culture, re-invigorating the society, enhancing the culture, and accelerating the economy.
I'm sorry, but this issue just sets me aflame and I'm embarassed that it comes primarily from my political Party. Count me with the pope on this one. - DOB
Mr. Tancredo – who sports T-shirts that read "America Is Full" – also cited a March 1 Wall Street Journal editorial to support his argument.
The editorial concerned a new Pew survey on religion in the U.S. and noted that in recent decades the Catholic Church has been losing members among the native born but gaining them among the foreign born. "We'd encourage our friends on the right who want to limit immigration to consider the health of our churches," we wrote.
Read the whole thing here. Somebody needs to wake up on the Right and realize that anti-immigration is inherently broken. With all waves of immigration, the old Know-Nothing Party just comes out of the woodwork. Despite their feverish warnings of Armegeddon, the immigrants always end up integrating into American culture, re-invigorating the society, enhancing the culture, and accelerating the economy.
I'm sorry, but this issue just sets me aflame and I'm embarassed that it comes primarily from my political Party. Count me with the pope on this one. - DOB
posted by David Browder at 4/22/2008 04:22:00 PM
2 Comments:
Well said, David. I too am with His Holiness (imputed, of course) on the immigration issue. The man seems full of the Holy Spirit, although I certainly disagree with him on any number of theological points. I fear that tacking the word "illegal" in fron of "immigrant" is a feel-good way of exercising racist sentiments for a very large number of our God-fearing "fellow Americans".
I heartily agree. The historical amnesia that develops over a few centuries is amazing.
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