Trio of echo opinion letters ~ protect the immigrant children

Appreciate this echo opinion published in the news DelMarVa Now

I ask this question, as posed in a Mennonite hymn by Michael Mahler: “How can we be silent as we turn our eyes away, and ignore the poor and broken who lie bleeding in the street?*

In a time when the US government used the Bible to justify separation of immigrant families at our border — a time when at least 2,000 children in May and June were taken from their innocent immigrant parents and when families will be held together in detention indefinitely, while innocent children, who are already separated, are not promised a way back to their parents:
“How can we be silent as we turn our eyes away, and ignore the poor and broken who lie bleeding in the street?

How can we be silent when we’re called to heal and serve in the image of Lord Jesus, who has stooped to wash our feet?”

As we hear the firsthand accounts of children taken from their parents, how can we be silent?

As we learn about warehouses the tent city children have been housed in, how can we be silent?

As we hear the Bible used to justify this new zero tolerance policy, how can we be silent?

As we hear rhetoric that dehumanizes, how can we be silent?

As our current administration uses children as political pawns, how can we be silent?

As we seek to justify the detention of immigrant families who are fleeing violence, how can we be silent?

Those who claim the name of Jesus, speak. Hold your representatives accountable. Write to your local newspaper. Be bold.

As the hymn finishes: “We will shape the future. We will not be silent!”

Sara Waltermyer lives in Snow Hill Maryland.

Stop! We are breaking God's heart

I found my faith as a Christian while living as an immigrant in a foreign country.

I was not the perfect stranger. I spoke the language some, but not perfectly. I did not always understand all the cultural implications of my actions, but I was welcomed and I was loved.

I was told my presence was a “gift from God” -- and I was treated as such.

The crisis unfolding at our borders is urgent. Children are ripped from their parents, while their parents can only cry in agony.

Who are we as a nation? Who are we as Christians, who acknowledge families as a centerpiece to the fabric of our lives, if we allow this to continue?

How can we ignore Jesus’ command to love and welcome the strangers among us?

How can we allow our attorney general to insist a mother, while seeking asylum to save and protect her children, should be punished or “taught a lesson” by having her children ripped from her?

How can we allow him to misuse Scripture for this immoral crusade?

To me, as a Christian -- as a human -- these actions are incomprehensible.

In the name of God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Stop! We are breaking God’s heart.

Whitney Palmer lives in Berlin Maryland.

Biblical verse doesn't justify unholy actions

The present (Donald Trump) administration is now quoting partial biblical verses to justify separating children from their parents. This, of course, after our Republican leaders have falsely accused the Democrats of making this procedure law.

That's not true. But that hasn't stopped anyone.

Democrats only housed unaccompanied children crossing the border and only for no longer than 45 days.

As the government shows off a few of the shelters, it reminds me of the Nazi propaganda machine that showed the Jews lovely make-believe villages to assure them all would be OK.

Of course, that was a lie. But we are getting darn close to the same thing. Remember, those quotes from the Bible were also used to justify slavery -- and even the Germans claimed biblical verses to justify their unholy actions.

Just during the past few months, our nation has separated more than 2,000 children from their parents. Our president likes the North Korean despot and wishes people here would sit up straight when he speaks, like they do in North Korea.

He really respects Vladimir Putin, who seems to kill reporters and polticial enemies at will -- and no one interferes. Russia also likes to take over countries.

And Trump blames that on Obama.

All you people who claim news is boring and there's no point in paying attention really should start getting that information -- and not just from (right wing propaganda spewing!) Fox news -- so you can see the erosion of all the norms this nation has tried to follow for more than 200 years.

Joan Seiler lives in Eden Maryland

*Also check this link published in The Mennonite