Christians Fighting over Territory in the Amazon
Plus, immigration does not increase crime
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This week’s newsletter includes:
- Christians fighting over territory in the Amazon
- Paying fair wages to working inmates
- Crime rates unaffected by immigrants bussed from Texas
- Parents suing the child welfare system for unconstitutional home searches
- Jonathan helping us stay grounded with Jesus’ moral clarity
- And a preview of tomorrow’s bonus Shake the Dust for paid subscribers
Jonathan’s Recommendations
Christians Fighting over Territory in the Amazon
There is a battle for the souls of isolated villagers in the Amazon between Brazil’s traditional religious establishment, the Catholic Church, and an encroaching force, charismatic evangelicalism. The linked article follows a priest trying to maintain Catholic influence in a small village as an upstart, uneducated pastor draws away the faithful with promises of miracles and defeating demons. It also profiles a young woman named Rosa who seemed destined to work for the Catholic Church only to become Protestant. The priest, a former mentor, shuns her, and other Catholics mock her. She becomes convinced that the tension in her village is about power and control, not faithfulness to Jesus. It is always worth reflecting on How much of our arguing over doctrine or custom in the Church is about power rather than worship, wonder, and transformation. Do I want to be with Christ or use Him? For me, this article was a check on the attitude of my heart, and I think it will be for you too.
- Read the article or listen to the author read it
The Economic Benefits of Ending Prison Slavery
Worth Rises is an advocacy organization that exists to dismantle the prison industry and win reparations for those the industry has harmed. It recently published a study analyzing what society would gain in terms of economic benefits from eliminating prison slave labor and paying prisoners fair wages. The study finds the wages would transform the lives of inmates, their families, their communities, and even crime victims. It would also add tax revenue to state and federal budgets from the estimated $11.6 to $18.8 Billion in wages we would be paying prisoners today but for the fact that, as Sy highlighted in this newsletter two weeks ago, it is still legal to enslave them. Worth Rises work is compelling, convincing, and a necessary economic argument to bolster a just cause.
Sy’s Recommendations
Immigration, as Always, Is Not Increasing Crime
The ever-helpful Marshal Project published a newsletter this past weekend debunking the idea that Texas’ trafficking immigrants to blue cities increased those cities’ crime rates. The newsletter quotes one official speaking of an immigrant crime wave descending upon New York City, and it notes a majority of Americans believe that immigration increases crime. But there is no data to back any of this up. Even as police officials insist individual immigrants committing crimes indicates a broader trend, their own departments’ statistics consistently betray them. And this is true whether we’re talking about immigration that is undocumented or not. These facts are worth knowing, not just for our own education, but to correct the often classist and racist falsities so many of us believe about our image-bearing neighbors from other nations.
Parents Sue CPS for Widespread Unconstitutional Searches
In New York City, a group of parents filed a class action arguing child protection workers routinely violate the Fourth Amendment when they enter families’ homes. I can tell you from my own experience as a defense attorney for parents that CPS workers have enormous power because of their ability to remove children from homes. And that power often leads to a sense that there are very few boundaries restricting what they can do. So it is unsurprising to me that this suit alleges it is a regular practice for workers to lie and say parents do not have the right to refuse searches of their homes or their children’s bodies. But CPS workers almost never obtain warrants, so without parents’ consent or an obvious emergency situation, their searches are illegal. In most jurisdictions, CPS workers do not give an equivalent of a Miranda warning, but nobody has to speak to workers or let them into their homes. If you wouldn’t mind shouting that last point from the rooftops, I’d really appreciate it. A whole lot of our most marginalized neighbors need to know their rights.
Staying Grounded with Jonathan
“Turning the other cheek (non-retaliation) is neither cowardice nor courage. It is an act of repentance (turning from violence) in and for a violent world,” wrote professor and author Bradley Jersak on Instagram this week. Reading that prompted me to take another look at the section of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek, Matthew 5:21-48. These are a series of simple and straight-forward instructions about murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, revenge, and loving enemies. I am challenged, comforted, convicted, and grateful for the Jesus in this passage who speaks plainly to his followers. His simplicity breaks through the confusion and noise of the many voices in society telling me to support all kinds of violence and hatred of people I’m supposed to think are my enemies.
- Read the section of the Sermon on the Mount
Shake the Dust Preview
Tomorrow, Jonathan and Sy give you their big-picture thoughts on the importance of this year’s presidential election. What will happen if Trump is elected again, and how can theology and history put the election in some helpful context for us? Then they go a little deeper on their thoughts about Sy’s recent newsletter recommendation on prison slave labor in America’s food industry.
Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
Jonathan and Sy