The controversy at the southern border continues to churn. Like many of you, I’ve been following its many twists and turns, straining to gather reliable information and, at times, struggling to separate the fact from the fiction. There is a lot of bad and biased information out there. To be sure, emotions are running high on both sides, a consequence of the very real human concern and the highly partisan nature of our times.
As I’ve previously indicated, separating children from their parents can be harmful and traumatic. Nobody would deny this fact. God intended every child to be with a mother and a father. So, seeing images of innocent, crying boys and girls in custody is enough to rip your heart out. The current crisis is a tragedy, pure and simple. My heart aches for every child who’s been impacted, along with their mother and/or father, who obviously feel like the risk of staying where they were outweighed the risk of the circumstances they currently find themselves in.
Concurrent to the very real drama and desperation is the distasteful politicization and posturing that’s accompanying the situation. It cannot be ignored. Case in point:
Over the weekend, on Father’s Day, Planned Parenthood tweeted the following:
“In our hearts and minds today: all of the fathers and parents who have been separated from their children at borders. Keep families together … You deserve to be together regardless of immigration status. Keeping families together is reproductive justice.”
Are they serious?
Surely, this is the height of hubris. Planned Parenthood permanently separates children from their parents each and every day by taking the life of a child, to the tune of over 300,000 innocent lives a year. In fact, the most dangerous place for a child to be is in the womb of a woman inside a Planned Parenthood clinic.
Tragically, children aren’t just being separated from a parent at abortion clinics or the southern border. Each and every day, millions of kids in the United States are living without a parent because of divorce, abuse, criminal activity, opioid or alcohol addiction or any number of other conditions outside their control. It would be a good thing if the same degree of energy we see exhibited for the border crisis was applied to the domestic crisis surrounding the American family.
The crisis we find ourselves in at the southern border has been years in the making, a complex consequence of bad policy, unenforced laws and an inability of politicians to make difficult and often unpopular decisions. It’s also the result of tyrannical and unpopular governments – and the attractive bright light of America that has historically drawn people to her shores.
Similarly, the failure of the family is so often a self-inflicted wound, a case of sin, selfishness and poor choices that cascade into crisis.
What’s the solution?
As believers, we must commit to praying for our nation’s leaders, especially for wisdom and discernment. A Republican solution isn’t the ultimate answer, but nor is a Democrat one the cure for what ails us. We must drive towards practical solutions, both at the border and inside the home, that lift up life and strengthen the family.
First and foremost, we urge government officials to work together towards a humane and God-honoring solution that best preserves the integrity and sanctity of the family unit while also protecting our borders and assuring the safety of our citizens.
Second, we must move beyond shouting snappy soundbites in social media, and understand that it’s not so much what you say as what you do. Focus on the Family is committed to working with leadership on both sides of the aisle, often behind the scenes, both shaping policy and advocating for solutions that serve the greater good and thereby honor God.
Please join me in praying for those in a position to address the current challenges, which are complex and multi-faceted. There are no easy or simple answers. In times like this, I think it’s prudent to remember Jesus’ admonition to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16).
The heaviness of our hearts bespeaks the seriousness of the situation.
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