Recently we have seen a travesty of justice, a
betrayal of the very values that are core to our nation. We have witnessed
children ripped from their parents arms and thrown into cages. There is no due
process, there is no justice, there is no mercy for these families who came to
our borders seeking asylum, seeking aid, seeking human compassion. But they did
not receive these things. Instead, they were torn apart under the inhumane
dictates of this regime while politicians quoted Christian scripture to justify
this unholy act.
Tonight I spoke at a rally protesting these
detentions. Here is what I said:
I’m Rev. Dr. Nori Rost,
minister of All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, and here representing the Colorado Springs Sanctuary
Coalition
It’s not surprising that Jeff Sessions used Romans 13 to try to validate separating families at the border. In fact, that is the scripture of choice for white supremacists around the world.
Romans 13 was used to condone the expelling of the Jews in Rome; it was used to condone apartheid in South Africa; it was used by the segregationists Presbyterians to condemn the civil rights movement.
Anytime you see a politician quoting that watch out.
Now I could counter with other verses from the Bible but I don’t need to. Why? Because we are not a Christian nation and frankly it doesn’t matter what the Bible or any other sacred text says.
As a Unitarian Universalist I am bound to a higher law. The first of our seven principles that says every human has inherent worth and dignity.
I am bound by the founding documents of this nation that says we are a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people; a nation that holds that all humans are created equal and are endowed with certain inalienable rights such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The Colorado Springs sanctuary coalition was founded over a year ago expressly to keep immigrant families together, to advocate for just laws for creating a society where no one need be afraid to get stopped by the police, where all can seek to be contributing members of society.
To paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. : “We must all learn to live together as kin or we will all perish together as fools. We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the way the universe is made; this is the way it is structured.”
Let these words ring in our hearts, let them inspire us to never give up or shut up or sit down or slow down or stand down or go away until no family need fear being torn apart.
