The secular progressive left is constantly accusing conservatives of not demonstrating appropriate tolerance nor strongly embracing diversity. What underpins this charge and what does it mean for our future?
Abraham Lincoln in 1858 made a famous speech prior to the start of the Civil war where he said "A house divided against itself cannot stand". He was actually paraphrasing Matthew 12:25. My simple understanding of this is if there is no common bond that joins a people they cannot and will not be united (except perhaps temporarily by artificial or forceful means). Tolerance and diversity work to unite because those involved quiet a part of themselves and what makes them different in order to jointly claim something common or shared between them. That is what has made the US the most diverse and accepting country ever. The US works because we are Americans first and don't allow differences to trump that common truth as we freely pursue success in our lives unhindered by class, or name, or national origin. That, in a nutshell, is our patriotism.
Principle items in this "shared" belief system are that we follow the rules, respect and aid one another, hold that we are part of a "country that tries to do good" and endeavor therefore to be "good" ourselves. We embrace others that come here because they want to become Americans. We don't merely tolerate them; we actively embrace them. When someone comes to be a part of this country they are drawn by the opportunity and spirit found here. In a similar way when someone "accepts" Christ, they are drawn by the spirit and kinship that they find with Him.
Christ loved all people but did not accept people until they expressed the desire and need to change to be more like Him. He told the ruler who wanted eternal life to give away his things and to follow Christ. Likewise, as Americans we cannot and should not embrace immigrants that come here but that don't sincerely express a desire to "join" into what this country has to offer them. Thus, efforts to maintain their own language, to only have commerce with each other, and to resist assimilation are signs that such people don't want to be Americans, rather they are trying to take advantage of America. As we consider measures to address our immigration issues, we should remember that those that break our laws and disrespect our country are not appropriate choices for permanent acceptance as citizens.
When people want to join the church yet continue to behave as they have without change then the church has reason to pause in it's acceptance of them. Are they sincere in their wish to join or claim the label of Christian when they more strongly wish to continue in greed, or adultery, or to maintain unforgiveness or whatever? If you come to Christ (or to America) yet you maintain a stiff unmoldable spirit and are unwilling to change, you will be unable to partake of the opportunity before you. America accepts immigrants who embrace America just as Christ (and by extension His church) accepts those who embrace Him.
A "tolerance" that doesn't include assimilation will not achieve any unity (as Matthew and Lincoln point out). An example of the failure of this kind of tolerance can be seen in the inability of European Union countries to create a society which is "inclusive" of Muslims. They are 'tolerated" there but do not join or blend effectively into the European communities . In short they are not "accepted". The result of this is a hopelessness and opportunity for growing radicalism among the isolated Muslim youth. The only true answer is acceptance and that only occurs when there is a degree of unity among the parties. Tolerance alone is not sufficient.
The left goes further and means by tolerance that behavior should be tolerated regardless of how antisocial or poisonous it may be. They wish for a standard-less society where no definition of what is right or wrong is acceptable. This has not been the position of the United States historically, nor should it be now. Our national motto ,"E Pluribus Unum" meaning "Out of many - One" speaks to this critically important unity and how to achieve it.
If we fail to understand and maintain standards of right and wrong, if we forget to "hate the sin but love the sinner", if we follow the left and the Europeans and embrace tolerance but don't appreciate what power lies in acceptance and unity - then our days as a unique and special republic may unfortunately be numbered.
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Comments: 31
Thanks for the kind words. It's nice getting some of those since my articles sometimes get plenty of the other kind.
- The Book of Leviticus 19:33-35
What is your magic test for distinguishing between people who don't want to assimilate and those that do? How does one recognize these evildoing people with "efforts to maintain their own language, to only have commerce with each other, and to resist assimilation." How do we distinguish between them, and for example, the people who can't take English classes because the anti illegal immigration folks refuse to let the county pay for them anymore? And spare me the rhetoric about how your grandparents magically learned English five seconds after they got off the boat.
I guess "wanting to assimilate" is an attitude and we'd likely recognize it like someone once said about how to recognize pornography," i know it when I see it". I'm not very supportive of government sponsored bilingual education but I'm fully behind english classes. I hadn't heard of english classes being withdrawn. And in the spirit of Lev 19:33 we should treat immigrants well. I'm just saying that if they don't want to "enter in" they shouldn't become citizens.
What liberals don't understand is that to love someone doesn't mean that you accept all that they do. Indeed, Jesus did not accept much of the way many behaved when He walked this earth. In fact, we are expected to judge others actions - we just cannot judge their hearts. If we do not insist on people believing in the American culture in order to become citizens (and therefore have the rights of citizenship), then we will sign our own death warrent as a country and society.
What some on the right (I will not call them conservatives) do not understand is that acceptance is not the same as approval. I can accept someone not sharing my beliefs, opinions or concepts of right and wrong but if asked if I approved of their beliefs, opinions or concepts I would have to say no because approval is a form of affirmation that implies that I think something is proper or correct.
As for your "If we do not insist on people believing in the American culture in order to become citizens....." I think varying definitions of what constitutes "American culture" is at the core of many of our conflicts. Baseball and apple pie are part of American culture, but liking both certainly are not part of what it means to be an American. "American culture" is to a large extent something that defies definition because it includes many elements some of which to some degree conflict with other elements. To me acceptence of diversity is the core of American culture, and it is that core not the many elements that make for diverisity that must be accepted.
I liked this: "As we consider measures to address our immigration issues, we should remember that those that break our laws and disrespect our country are not appropriate choices for permanent acceptance as citizens." Harsh as that might sound to some, it's true.
And if a stranger shall sojourn among, and will keep the Passover unto the Lord, according to the ordinance of the Passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land. Numbers 9:14
And he said unto them, "Render therefore unto Ceasar the things which be Ceasar's, and unto GOd the things which be God's". Luke 20:25
Let every soul be subject to the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth that power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. Romans 13:1-2
The Book of Leviticus is often quoted to justify the illegal aliens among us 'for we were once sojourners in Egypt'. There are other references that refer to expecting those among us to obey our laws...Numbers 9:14. Jesus even went so far as to compare those who sneak in to criminals...Jon 10:1. In another passage Jesus says we should do the things that the law expects and what God expects....Luke 20:25. The Apostle Paul tells the early Christian community in Rome to follow the law, as authority is from God...Romans 13:1-2.
Those that have such compassion for the illegal alien among us, where is your compassion for those whose wages have been undercut by an illegal worker? Where is your compassion for the children whose classrooms are overcrowed and who lose math and science courses to ESL for the children who speak no English. Finally where is your compassion for the homeowner who has seen the value of the single most important investment in his life, his home, destroyed when a single family dwelling becomes a flop house for illegal labor.
Elizabeth, this is a well written article covering a very difficult subject. How can one claim to be a foller of Christ AND believe those that join us should follow our laws? Fact is Jesus himself calls thos who sneak in the same as a bandit. So I guess that says it, youi sympathize with bandits. Go figure.
Truer words have never been spoken. Therefore, I suggest you toss out that bible and start doing things my way so we will not be divided.
The left goes further and means by tolerance that behavior should be tolerated regardless of how antisocial or poisonous it may be.
But this part is not true. No, the left does not want to tolerate the antisocial and poisonous behavior of the neocons.
The article's constant comparison of the US to Christianity bothers me intensely and the reference to assimilation as a precursor to unity speaks AGAINST everything on which this country and its founders built it.
Despite the platitudes, the thinly veiled intolerance is visible.
Regardless of political party, anyone who believes that we all must think alike in order to be fellow citizens has to take a few American History classes first.
It is NOT necessary for citizens to believe the same things in order to be citizens. That is NOT the rule of law. Given how many laws are struck down as silly and insensible, the fact that people DO disagree responsibly with laws is an important part of the process.
What a frightening notion and vision is presented here for a country that is a melting pot. Our Fathers fought and bled beside each other to preserve our right to say what we will. Any intolerant call for assimilation and unity is odious to their good memory.
You are right, we don't have to think all alike or believe all the same things but we must have something in common, something on which we think alike or believe together. Else what are we?
The founders pledged their lives, and fortunes, and sacred honor to this union (there's that pesky unity again). The civil war was fought to preserve the union. You appropriately use the term melting pot. Doesn't that imply that each individual part loses something of itself "melts" and the whole takes on some measure of sameness or homogeneity?
Ken S., there is absolutely no evidence that the Founders of this country envisioned it as a static community, never-changing, endlessly alike in its self-imposed "unity." In fact, quite the opposite -- they envisioned a series of revolutions and revisions the U.S. Constitution as the new republic grew and changed. Moreover, is not the thing that keeps us "alike" the fact that we have all, in some way, lived through the American experience? Instead of setting up more obstacles to assimilation, why not lessen those obstacles.
You say you don't know anything about counties cutting their services to immigrants learning English -- how could you not know? The "Speak English" movement is like a snake eating itself. If you want people to learn English, if you want them to assimilate quickly, then make services and classes available to those people that make it possible for them to learn about our language and our culture. Don't put them in a position where they are even more isolated than ever.
Melting pot is an analogy for the many ingredients coming together, not a to-do list for making everyone believe the same things.
People who live in the US do have something in common. We're all residents of the same country. No one had to "tolerate" my family when they came here. They worked, and saved and made a better life for themselves and their children.
Assimilation is a strange way to describe what we've historically done here. Any city in the US has its black and non-black areas, its Italian neighborhood, and its Chinatown. Yet they all manage to be Americans, love their country just fine without any bible thumping or calls for them to be like the White Christians Who Think They Know Best...
Duane,
Unity is a great term for describing a bunch of things. But it isn't a political doctrine, nor is it a requirement for residency or citizenship. I would expect that most people are unified in disliking people who want to force their views on others. So, who gets to decide how we're "unified"? Catholics? Jews? Blacks? Who? And who gets to judge whether someone else is unified? The unification police? The National Office of Unification?
Do we have to be unified in our political beliefs? Religion? What we eat for Sunday supper? Where we go on vacation?
Just where is this amazing unification you speak of, and who is overseeing it?
Ken, these detractors who spew their hatred of America, what made it great, and those who have chosen to defend their homes againts this invasion of racist job thieves and usurpers of public services will do their utmost to intimidate with false charges of bigotry, racism, and intolerance. Your article was well written on a very difficult subject. I believe as you do, there IS something good about America as it is. I too feel that if those who wish to join us do it legally and become part of us, then welcome brother and sister. But those whose first act on American soil is criminal need to leave, they are not welcome. Come back legally, follow our laws and accept our culture...then "Bienvenudo Hermano"!
You want a definition for unity. Ok. How about :
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." - Declaration of Independence, 1776
Can you stand united with me behind those words? That the Right to Life and Liberty are principal goals? That it is self-evident that we have a Creator? If you cannot agree to these basic statements aren't you refusing to assimilate yourself? That is, to change the rules of the game because you don't like the way it is and has historically been played (to use a poor sports analogy)?
This is absurd jingoism with racist overtones dressed up to look like it has religious validity. It's one thing to claim that illegal immigration is a crime . . . so is jay-walking. But you conveniently overlook what happens when a person who has been here illegally for 15 years with an 8 year old US Citizen child gets deported. We have epic immigration proportions (3,000 immigrants a day) and children who are citizens are not going to be happy to have their otherwise tranquil lives disrupted after knowing only one way of life . . . and watching their parents deported. How do you think these US citizens will be politically on this subject?
Somehow, I get the sense there is no compassion there either.
You're concentrating on the wrong issue. They're not stealing our jobs . . . these employers are conspiring to save money but hiring them . . . and giving away the chance of higher wages that would truly evolve from a fair supply and demand curve as it applies to the labor market. THEY make the money . . . and illegal immigrants and US citizens pay the price.
You want to stop it? Fine them and put them in jail . . . per conviction, per person. No jobs and the problems end all by themselves. This wouldn't be a racist plan where people are lured here and then shipped back to be replaced by others and employers pay less and cut benefits so taxpayers pay for that too . . . without the incentive . . . why come?
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
And yes, I try to practice what I preach but sometimes I (like everybody) make a mistake. Don't let that misstep kill the message. In the end it doesn't make much difference what you think of me or others. The question is really, what in your heart , do you think of Jesus' message? If someone is trying to perform mathematics but gets the wrong answer because they applied the formulas incorrectly, that doesn't invalidate mathematics, only their attempt at it. Similarly , don't let the inevitable failure of others poison for you the Chtristian message but rather go right to the source and decide for youself.
Sure it does, a know-it-all in any subject drives everybody crazy. Do this, go down to the bookstore and get a little book called Mere Christianity. It was written in the 1940's by a man named CS Lewis. He was an atheist early in life and later became a Christian. He wrote Mere Christianity to the young man that he used to be. You can consider his points in the quiet of your own home and heart and not be in an environment where you are pressured. It is not the easiest read (you know how those Cambridge guys write) but well worth it. Let me know how it goes.
You're abusing the Declaration. First, it doesn't say that it is self-evident that there is a creator, but that all men (and presumably women too) are given certain rights, simply for "being." Notice it doesn't say "you must agree with me."
I most certainly agree with these words but I disagree with those giving no voting rights to women and blacks/ slaves or allowing slavery to begin with. Since you seem a Patriotic guy, you'll certainly stand behind me as I call for voting rights for women and blacks to be revoked. Of course, I'm being facetious.
The Declaration of Independence was written to sever our ties to a tyrannical king. It is not an Oath or something that one must "believe" in order to be a citizen. In fact, I'm sure that there are some citizens who do not believe in these words (some for the very reasons I've mentioned), yet there are no less citizens of this country than you.
Jingoistic or Nationalistic rhetoric is a poor defense for intolerance.
I happen to agree with Lori. You're mixing a happy privilege of birth or naturalization or choice with one of religious choice. I don't mean to be insulting, but religion is a PERSONAL comfort to some, a tyranny to others. It has been a source of great pain and death. So to compare the state of being a citizen with that of a religious choice, particularly a Christian choice, my hackles go up and I think you've stretched a weak analogy way too far.
Notice, I haven't said a word about immigration, which was at the crux of your article to begin with. My dispute is with your use of religion as a defense of intolerance.
What does it say when over 80% of Tax Paying Legal United States Citizens are against granting Amnesty to Illegals and Our Voted Political Representatives are looking the other way. I Personally think its time that we as legal voters spend a little more time looking at the people we are voting in to represent US not some Non Citizen.
What about when "the alien who resides with you" removes vast amounts of YOUR wealth from YOUR home (like $45 Billion/year - remittances) ?????
Similar to the "alien who resides with you", steals your TV set, VCR, DVD, Stereo,
and Electric Guitar.