Not Our Kids: When Christian Nationalism Gets Ugly

On Fox & Friends today, Brian Kilmeade made a remark that the immigrant kids coming over the border are not something to get upset about because we have our own kids to worry about. Here are his words:

And these are not — like it or not, these aren’t our kids. Show them compassion, but it’s not like he is doing this to the people of Idaho or Texas. These are people from another country and now people are saying that they’re more important than people in our country who are paying taxes and who have needs as well.

Someone asked me how, then, we’re supposed to talk about the tough choices of immigration, security, etc. It is fine to talk about tough choices. But that is not what’s happening here.

The statement, “These are not our kids,” is a justification for not feeling bad about what is happening to immigrant families. The statement says, “We would be justified in feeling bad if these were American kids, but since they’re foreigners, lighten up.”

Kilmeade, facing intense criticism for his remarks, put out a follow-up statement on social media:

On FOX & Friends earlier, Of course-I didn’t mean to make it seem like children coming into the U.S. illegally are less important because they live in another country. I have compassion for all children, especially for all the kids separated from their parents right now.

It’s hard to believe him when he EXPRESSLY commented that people from other countries are less important than Americans. He made the comparison between foreigners and “the people of Idaho or Texas.” I have rarely heard such un-Christian comments from people who claim to be God-fearing people.

I’m not making comments about American policy or policy makers. I’m not getting political. My remarks are about the American attitude towards outsiders. In the Bible, the people of Israel are told treat foreigners well BECAUSE they had been in that position themselves!

Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt. (Exodus 23:9)

Or how about:

The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:34)

I know, I know.

This is the part where Conservatives talk about how Israel was in a different situation and those verses don’t apply to America – which is HUGELY ironic because Conservative Christians are quick to claim the promises of Israel for America for everything else.

Again – not talking about policy. What I AM saying is that the God-fearing person cannot look at anyone as “other than.” There’s no “us and them” in God’s kingdom. Yes, the geo-political world in which we live will always draw lines, but how we VIEW people cannot be divided. The Christian must pursue the welfare and well-being of all, because all humanity bears God’s image.

Christians aren’t given the right to say, “America first, to heck with everyone else. There’s no us and them.

There’s only us.