I am always looking for good blogs to read, and one of the better ones I’ve been reading lately is Mark Mardell’s Euroblog, hosted by the BBC. Mardell is a reporter, and he covers a lot of issues dealing with the European Union, a topic which continues to interest me since I first learned about it in detail in a high school history course.

With the recent expansion of the Schengen Zone further eastward, one of the big concerns has been border security. Mardell has been riding along with authorities on the Slovak and Polish borders to see how this is carried out, and to get the stories from those caught trying to come into the EU. The situation is comparable to the many people attempting to get across the border into the United States (there is a tendency here in the US to refer to these people as “illegal immigrants”. From a technical standpoint, this is accurate. But I thoroughly despise this sort of categorization and dehumanization of people groups. They are first and foremost people).

Human history has always been about people trying to achieve something better---better lives, better education, better political structures, you name it. The stories of the people Mardell has been talking to are no different. They know what’s on the other side of the borders, and the things they go through to get there are remarkable.

Sitting on the other side where these people want to be, it’s easy to be supportive of some initiatives (though not all) to keep people from entering other countries and regions illegally. They take away jobs, dip into health care resources, and hinder the opportunities of those seking to immigrate legally, for example. Yet in states like California, the economy (specifically the agriculture sector) is so dependent on people that have immigrated illegally, that if they were all forced to leave, the economy would fall to pieces. There is, therefore, no simple solution.

One of the ethical questions that churches and Christians have had to deal with recently is whether or not to offer aid to people who have immigrated illegally to other countries. Brooke Levistke of the Acton Institute wrote a commentary on the issue back in July illustrating the complexities of the situation. While Christians are called to uphold the rights of humanity (Gal. 5:14), they are also to submit to the governing authorities that God has placed over them (Rom. 13:1). You can liken this situation to some degree to the Jews in Europe during the Holocaust, but one of the differences here is that people who have illegally immigrated to countries such as the US or regions such as the EU are not necessarily facing a life or death situation. What the concern of Christians needs to be here is that these matters are handled justly, and to that end should work closely with policymakers to ensure that the rule of law and the rights of man are upheld simultaneously.

The idea of change is resisted by a lot people. Since I have not been to Europe, I cannot speak as much to it there, but I know that Americans have a tendency to resist it. I do not think this is entirely negative; it is important to hold to certain beliefs and ideas that are constant and that a society, culture, and nation can be built on. However, this resistance to change in America has caused them to perpetually turn inward, and thus create a great problem of unawareness of what is outside of their own borders. The consequent tendency then is to resist anything different from what they are used to. As an example, I find a tendency among a great deal of people here to be critical of the idea that the US might one day be bilingual. It certainly is a long way off, but I fail to see why this would be a negative thing. Being aware of and learning from different cultures and traditions is only beneficial. I believe the same for Europe, whose countries have historically been fiercely nationalistic and exclusivist.

I may have wandered a bit, but my point is this: expanding borders in places like the EU and the issue of illegal immigration here in the US brings the world to our doorstep and demands a greater global consciousness. I think we do ourselves a disservice if we ignore all of this and build a hedge around ourselves for protection. Politically, I honestly do not know what to do. But as a Christian, I know that we need to fairly and justly consider the plight of people who are looking to reap the benefits that God has so graciously bestowed upon us.