There are times when the requirements of the gospel of Jesus Christ and God’s demand for justice make it necessary for the church to poke its nose into the political realm.

There is a great controversy about the handling of immigrants at the southern border of the United States. The issue is the separation of children from their parent or parents while the parent or parents are arrested and processed for crossing the border illegally.

The debate rages on about proper procedure, about whether the parents brought this on themselves, and the need to secure our borders. I could go into a discussion of all or any of those topics, but I am not going to.

What is going on here is the cruel and psychological abuse of children in the name of securing the border and just following procedure.

Down through history, there have been those who were just following procedure or following orders and carried out some of the most atrocious crimes of humanity.

Where, may I ask, is your humanity when you separate a crying child from its mother or father? Where is your humanity when children are sent to a holding place, where the workers cannot even hold and comfort them?

There are simply times when justice, compassion and decency simply are more important than law and procedure. We must simply put all the pressure we can on the government to stop this practice, because remember this from the prophet Micah, “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”

So, let’s do justice.

— Jim Beard

Salisbury