Even as a lover of words, my vocabulary fails me in expressing the frustration, grief, and RAGE I feel about the thousands of families that my nation’s government has torn asunder: children ripped—in some cases permanently—from the arms of their parents. The federal departments overseeing this human rights violation have not kept records and have no plans for reunification.
The brand of evangelicalism from which I originate has heretofore called itself “pro-life.” But that is a name which the movement should no longer claim unless it rises up against this outrage. I keep waiting for all of my pro-life friends to come out and vehemently renounce the child separation policy of the Trump administration and insist that our government immediately begin reunifying families, no matter the cost. You’ve made your voices heard—loudly—against abortion, now how about directing some of that righteous fervor to life outside the womb? Now is the time for Christians to ‘focus on the family.’ This is a travesty of justice and human values on a level I cannot reconcile with what I thought the United States to be, as well as antithetical to the teachings of Christ. I appeal to every American parent—who has cherished holding your child in your arms—to contact your Congressional representatives and demand that these families be reunited.
These are anguished families who came here seeking that which America has always promised: freedom and the hope of a better life. Instead of giving them that, we took the only thing they had: each other.
I believe you would be hard pressed to find a father, anywhere, who loves his kids more deeply than I. But if I were faced with the choice of having one of my own precious children aborted in the womb, or ripped from my arms… in a foreign country…taken to a detention center… thrown into the foster care system…never to be returned home again? I would take the former; I would rather they never enter this cruel world in the first place and have to encounter such an evil nation. God forgive us. #FamiliesBelongTogether
conTIMplations 