Republican Piety Only For Show

Republican politicians love to tout their faith, Christianity, and piety as if Democrats are somehow an evil cabal set on abolishing their religion. I know lots of faithful, devout Democrats, many are Christian but many are of other faiths as well. The differences I find between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to their faiths is that Democrats are more likely to actually behave as their scriptures instruct. A prime example is “Love thy neighbor as thyself” which appears repeatedly in both the Old and New Testaments. While the Old Testament tends toward a narrow definition of neighbor the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament broaden that definition through parables like the Good Samaritan.

If Republicans like Gov. Greg Abbott were really as devout Catholic he claims to be he wouldn’t have bused over 100 asylum seekers to Washington, D.C. to be dropped off on the street outside the vice presidential residence at the Naval Observatory on Christmas Eve without any warning to officials there. The three busloads of asylum-seeking adults and children left on the street in 18 degree weather, many without coats or other winter gear. It’s just a continuation of Republican political stunts complaining about migrants on the southern border but offering no solutions.

Real people are bitterly suffering for so our governor can score political points in his likely run for president in 2024. He’s already won re-election as governor so it can’t be for that. It’s disappointing that someone who claims to be a practicing Catholic so clearly violates the one of the most fundamental precepts of the faith. The nuns at St. Lawrence the Martyr and the brothers at Archbishop Rummel made it very clear to me during my 12 years of Catholic education that kindness to all those around you even those you don’t know is a foundational principle of the faith. How Greg Abbott doesn’t see the conflict between his faith and his actions is beyond me. It appears that he has allowed his ambition to be president to override the teachings of his faith.

I’m not the first to call Abbott out on his un-Christian behavior. 150 faith leaders of various denominations from around the country, including Republican states like Louisiana, Tennessee, Iowa, Missouri, and West Virginia, sent Gov. Abbott a letter pleading with him to stop his inhumane treatment of asylum-seeking migrants.

The letter is a powerful statement and reads in part “This crisis is not the byproduct of just Democratic or just Republican issues — it is the culmination of decades of decisions, intertwined in a web of blame that seemingly has no end. Many of us have, however, spoken to the migrants who have gotten off your buses. They told us how they fled places like Venezuela, Haiti, or Honduras, where their choices were to die there or chase the promise of a better life in America. Because while the immigrants of today are crossing up to nine borders to the United States, they carry that same spirit of the people who arrived here two hundred years ago on European ships. They face the same issue of death there or struggle here. We ask: which would you choose?”

I know that Republicans are found of asking why Joe Biden hasn’t visited the Mexican border. I’d ask those politicians if they’ve visited with any of the desperate migrants so they can learn about what caused them to flee in fear for their very lives.

Remember we are a nation of immigrants.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - January 4, 2023