Jerry Bowyer, the author of a book titled "The Bush Boom: How a Misundestimated President Fixed our Broken Economy," has
an opinion piece in today's Philadelphia Daily News, which makes the argument that the strong faith Rick Santorum often cites as a major influence on his policy decisions may not be what's guiding his hard-line stance against amnesty for illegal immigrants. Because, as Bowyer points out, "the Bible is unabashedly pro-immigrant." Here's an excerpt:
As I read the e-mail, I thought, "Has Rick ever read what the Bible actually says about immigrants?"
The biblical case against abortion is inferential. The Bible doesn't
speak directly to the topic. It lays out some principles - sacredness
of life, humanity of the unborn - that lead to the conclusion that
abortion is not permitted. It's the same with stem cells, child tax
credits, faith-based social services, etc.
Immigration is different. The Bible is explicit. In the Torah, Moses
commanded, "Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were
aliens in Egypt."
The Bible is unabashedly pro-immigrant. The argument is simple: You
were immigrants in Egypt, and you didn't like being mistreated, so now
that you have your own country, you should treat immigrants
compassionately. It's basically the Golden Rule: Treat people the way
you used to want to be treated when you were in Egypt.
The Exodus was an act of protection against mistreated immigrants.
The children of Israel had earlier crossed the border of Egypt to seek
a more economically secure life for themselves. Eventually they were
seen as a threat to Egyptian cultural purity and national security.
Much later, King David surrounded himself with immigrants, as did his
son, Solomon. The prophets spoke out on behalf of aliens frequently.
Jesus of Nazareth was an immigrant. When he was a child, he and Mary
and Joseph crossed the border to Egypt illegally. You see, they had a
well-founded fear of political persecution from a Middle Eastern
dictator named Herod.
