LOOK IN ANY BIBLE, Old Testament or New; scan the Koran or Hindu holy texts – indeed, any religious writings – and you are likely to find justification for almost any action you might wish to take. Slavery. Capital punishment. Treating women as chattels. All are condoned in various scriptures.
So it was not unusual for US Attorney General Jeff Sessions to cite the Apostle Paul in his defence of Trump Administration policy to separate children from their parents if the family unit tries to enter the United States illegally.
It is futile to duel with Bible verses. Let’s remember religions set many of their guiding tenets during eras with mores far different than those of today’s western civilisations.
Decency, on the other hand, does not require divine validation. So let’s be blunt: Trump and his minions are being indecent and cruel. They are traumatising children, perhaps for life, to win political points.
Have they no shame?
They are compounding their immorality by lying: by trying to lay the blame for their inexcusable actions on Democrats when they know perfectly well that under Barack Obama children were not separated from their parents .
The Big Lie is Trump’s usual defence, but even some of his evangelical supporters are not duped by it this time. It is comforting to know that even his own church, United Methodist, has disavowed Sessions’ use of the Bible to justify an abhorrent practice
Here’s a chilling perspective on the practice of separating children from their parents. As Sara Boboltz reported on HuffPost, families of colour have been subjected to such cruelty since the 1800s.
There is no denying the United States has a problem with illegal immigration, the severity of which is a valid subject for honest debate (though it is difficult to imagine an honest, truthful debate from Trump’s side).
But what should be obvious to anyone with a caring heart is the cruelty of taking children from their parents for no other reason than they sought a better future from the lottery of life that planted them in a country south of the United States border.
Decency should know no boundaries.
