The sun is setting on another Fourth of July. The record heat, with its over 100-degree days, continues in dry, parched, sweating, Georgetown, Texas. It has been hotter than …, well, you know! At our house, we enjoyed this holiday,…
Some African immigrants see their hopes of a better life in the U.S. dashed by new immigration plan
Among the African community, mixed reactions have continued to trail debate in the United States Congress of the Build Back Better bill. The concern is about a lesser-noticed provision about immigration. Reports show that $100 billion is earmarked for immigration…
Why vote? Because if we don’t do better, we will repeat history
This is the first in a series of first-person columns written by current and former BJC Fellows, a program of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, on the prompt: “Why vote?” Aaron Sorkin’s West Wing holds a special responsibility…
The Christian citizen: Gospel, conscience and dissent
E Pluribus Unum, the founders declared of their new American Republic, “Out of Many, One.” From 13 furiously independent and diverse colonies would come “one nation,” (“under God,” we would add much later), “with liberty and justice for all.” It…
Beyond the divisions: 5 guiding principles for Christian citizenship in a polarized nation
For all the complexities and sharp disagreements among Christians on matters that shape our citizenship, a certain foundation of shared faith can guide all of us who believe we have a constructive, even transformative, role to play in society.
Helping immigrants travel the long journey to citizenship
It amazes me to hear people talk about immigration reform when they have never met an immigrant. Until we stop seeing immigration as a problem and start seeing immigrant people, whether documented or undocumented, as persons created in the image of God, we will never do what is right.
She is here to love this country, not be a burden. She just needs an opportunity for a better life.
Like so many of the families with whom she shared a field, a song, a smile, Aracely Salazar is here to love this country, to work hard, to help her family thrive and to find peace.
What can we learn about poverty from those who work along the Texas-Mexico border?
Where opportunity for education and employment abounds, the fight against poverty remains spiritual, rooted in the heart.
Hidalgo County, Texas: A Mighty Current
Listen to the stories of the more than 268,000 in Hidalgo County living below their federal poverty threshold and you will learn that the Rio Grande waters are rarely hospitable to newcomers, most of whom must take on the slow, agonizing work of rebuilding life from scratch on the other side.