News and Views

By Richard Mitchell
Pleasant Hill UMC

Editor's note: United Methodists are “called to live the Gospel we proclaim,” says Bishop LaTrelle Easterling, resident bishop of the Baltimore-Washington Conference.

On Jan. 27, President Trump issued as executive order enacting a 30-day suspension of all visas for nationals from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. This measure and the new administration’s views on immigration have stirred up conversation and advocacy efforts in the Baltimore-Washington Conference.

The United Methodist Church, in its official stance, upholds a theology that welcomes the stranger, and advocates a witness that stands with the marginalized and oppressed. The conference website has a page for thoughts and resources on immigration ministries.

But not all United Methodists are of one mind on this issue, as a member from Pleasant Hill UMC in Owings Mills explains in the following commentary. 

Our nation is a nation of immigrants who passed through Ellis Island long ago. We took in millions from Ireland, Germany, Scotland, England, etc., and we will take in more than a million immigrants per year, more than any other country. But those people were not seeking to do us harm. They were of like mind to build and cherish our laws and systems of government.

The President is charged with the duty to follow the Constitution and protect us from all enemies foreign and domestic. The seven counties in the temporary ban don’t have functioning governments like ours, and there have been 93 instances so far of terrorism from these countries.

It has been stated by Imams that we cannot defeat America in a land war, but we can infiltrate them and produce children and establish Islam to spread and take them from within. This course is well underway in Detroit and some areas of Texas, which is establishing Shania (sic) law in their communities. President Trump has been briefed on this situation and he knows the dangers. God establishes government and leaders.