immigration (no class action faith)

this afternoon, as i was driving out to school with sophi to visit amy for lunch, i had on a christian radio station. as disturbing as that might sound, it gets worse. actually, a program was finishing up about faith and tough times,which i thought was very solid. but, after the program was over, one of those short 30 second faith blips came on. radio bumper stickers. and downhill we went.

anyway, the speaker started by asking, "red, white and green?". and then went on to briefly talk about fact that chicago had decided to celebrate mexico's independence day by lighting up its skyline red, white and green. cool, i thought. we are secure enough in our own "country-ness" that we can get excitied about another country's freedom birthday.

i was wrong. the speaker went on to throw in a jab at illegal individuals who are here trying to make a better life for themselves and their families. apparently we (as christ followers) are very against this? or at least should be? whatever. the real thing that struck me as funny/sad was the suggestion that we, the listening audience, should all call the mayor's office and tell them we are against this whole celebration thing.

then the program ended with a little jingle that said it was faith in action. what? are you kidding me? faith in action is concerned with lighting up buildings? with celebrating a neighbors' independence? with validating over 50,000 people of mexican decent in the greater chicago area? i thought faith in action was feeding the hungry, clothing those in need, hanging out with the imprisioned. i guess not.

i shouldn't get too worked up. perhaps this was one snippet from a greater teaching on practical love, serving others, offering hope to the hopeless... or maybe it's just another believer who accidentally forgot that faith doesn't have that much to do with misguided conservative patriotism.

i wonder if the (good)samiritan was legal? did he have the proper paperwork to be traveling down that road? i bet the beat up guy he helped didn't care much.