Baghdad Barb uses the bible to justify the separation of immigrant parents and children

Baghdad Barb uses the bible to justify the separation of immigrant parents and children

Using the famous words of Jesus, "Whosoever in my name separates this little child from his parents, and from my own sight, grants us peace, because kids are noisy and annoying, and they are always putting gum in my sandals.” (Loosely translated from the Aramaic.)

Baghdad Barb actually said, "I can say that it is very biblical to enforce the law. That is repeated throughout the Bible."

Think for a second about what she is saying: no matter how cruel and brutal a law may be, the bible tells us to enforce it. That position is based on the following passage in Paul's epistle to the Romans:

"Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves."

That's right. The bible really says that God established the authority of Hitler and Vlad the Impaler, and anybody who rebelled against them was rebelling against what God established! This is the same biblical passage that has been used through the ages to justify acts of pure evil. Not only was it used to exculpate Christians in Nazi Germany for enabling the anti-semitic laws and abetting genocide, but also to justify the divine right of kings and American slavery.

It also might be noted that St. Paul obviously did not really intend his words to mean that the law should always be followed or enforced blindly. We know he didn't mean that based on his own actions:

He was jailed many times for not following the law (including one crime which was a capital offense), and wrote several of his epistles from imprisonment!

He personally stopped enforcing unjust laws. He had been persecuting Christians for their defiance of the law, then renounced his former self, followed the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth, and started defying those same laws!

Paul was probably making that case as an expedient way to avoid a conflict with civil authorities, just as Jesus of Nazareth himself said "Render unto Caesar ..." in order to outsmart those who would entrap him into apparent defiance of the law.