Would Jesus Accept Syrian Refugees? GOP Seems to Think Not.

Racism and xenophobia are alive and well in the Grand Old Party. When I hear Senator Ted Cruz say things like, “We just saw in Paris what happens when a country allows ISIS terrorists to come in as refugees and the result can be a horrific loss of life,” I know that this man has forsaken his own Christian beliefs in favor of stirring up hatred, which he hopes translates into donations and votes. And that’s sickening.

Jeb! got into the mix of Islamophobes when he told CNN, “We should focus our efforts as it relates to refugees on the Christians that are being slaughtered.” Ignore the 12 million Syrians (half of which are children), and “focus” on the ones with our same religion as us.

What about the 27 governors who banded together to bar Syrian refugees from their states? I hope the people who elected those people to run their states are proud to stand by that decision. I don’t know how they could, but it’ll be entertaining to watch them try.

We even took a poll at Off the Grid about the Syrian refugees and only 40% of you still wanted to bring in the proposed 10,000. Maybe you thought the question -- Should the U.S. change its plan to let in 10,000 Syrian refugees? -- meant that we should alter the strategy and allow MORE refugees in. I can rest easier believing that… even if I know better.

At least President Obama is on the right side of this argument. He’s obviously in favor of screening the incoming 10,000 Syrian refugees, but when it comes to a religious test, he’s ready to question these other politicos’ faith…

"And when I hear folks say that, well, maybe we should just admit the Christians but not the Muslims, when I hear political leaders suggesting that there would be a religious test for which person who's fleeing from a war-torn country is admitted, when some of those folks themselves come from families who benefited from protection when they were fleeing political persecution, that's shameful," he said, his voice rising. "That's not American. That’s not who we are. We don’t have religious tests to our compassion."

What happened to “love thy neighbor”? Didn’t Jesus drop that pearl of wisdom way back when? Many of us are terrified by what happened in Paris, we don’t know what that level of threat to sneak into our borders, but the U.S. government has eyes everywhere. We keep voting in more politicians who ensure the reach of the NSA sprawls into every facet of attainable physical and electronic data. You really think Big Brother won’t have their eyes on these refugees at all times?

If we’re going to police the world, we need to redefine what the term “police” means to us, because it’s intended to be defined as those who “serve and protect.” The U.S. policy of policing on the world stage seems to be “bomb and reject.”