CL Pauwels at Large

Recently, in the early days of the #MuslimBan crisis, a Facebook friend who I fully expected would know better shared a post that was something along the lines of, “Of course we should secure our borders. We don’t lock our houses because we hate the people outside. We lock our houses because we love the people inside.”

Roughly paraphrased, because I deleted it in disgust.

People don’t lock their doors to protect people as much as they do to protect their stuff. Home invasions by strangers to injure another person are exceedingly rare.

So to continue their very weak analogy, in the interest of protecting your TV from a petty thief:

• You’re locking your doors to keep out the suddenly-homeless family who was evicted by their landlord (new government) – using their “other” religion as an excuse – because he realized he can make more turning his building into condos for rich people.
• You’re locking your doors against the family fleeing a violently abusive relationship (i.e., their government, rebels, etc.), who only ask for refuge while they try to rebuild their lives.
• You’re locking your door against the orphans created by endless war and genocide in countries who use religion as an excuse to slaughter those who are different.

And if keeping your stuff secure is worth more to you than the lives of those refuges, those human beings, then you have forfeited the moral right to call yourself a Christian based on any Bible I’ve read.

Don’t believe the greed-and-paranoia-fueled White House. We’re better than that as a people, and as a nation.