What effects do people like Guillermo, who come to the United States to pick our produce for a low hourly wage, have on the overall economy? Does immigration hurt the American worker? Are foreign workers even needed? What about the costs of providing education, healthcare, and other public services to these people? Can our country afford to welcome so many immigrants? Could we afford not to have them here? From a Christian perspective, these questions ought not to be primary: the scriptural witness is that we are to … [Read more...] about The Value of Immigrants to the United States. Part 9 of the Welcoming the Stranger Series
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The Immigration Dilemma. Part 3 of Welcoming the Stranger Series
Living in relationships with immigrants, refugees, and other low-income people has forced us to grapple with the question of what it means for us, as followers of Christ, to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. It has also awakened us to the ethically complex questions of immigration and refugee policy—who do we let in, what do we do with those who came in even though our government did not allow them in, and what effect will our policies have on those already here and struggling to get by? Of course, our attempts … [Read more...] about The Immigration Dilemma. Part 3 of Welcoming the Stranger Series
Welcoming the Stranger: My Impressions of the First Edition (Part 2 of Welcoming the Stranger Series)
Last week we introduced a new series by Royce Francis, an associate professor at George Washington University and an ESN author. Royce was inspired to learn more about immigration when he attended InterVarsity's Northeast Faculty Conference last summer, and now he's sharing his thoughts on the InterVarsity Press book Welcoming the Stranger, as well as some notes about training to run the Baltimore Half Marathon in support of World Relief. You can browse the first post here or all of Royce's work for ESN here. … [Read more...] about Welcoming the Stranger: My Impressions of the First Edition (Part 2 of Welcoming the Stranger Series)
Welcoming the Stranger—My Half Marathon Journey In Solidarity With World Relief
Royce Francis shared a series on writing this spring, drawing on his expertise as a professor of engineering who also teaches engineers to write. We had a great response to that series, and we're happy to welcome Royce back to the blog for a new series on immigration, inspired by an InterVarsity Faculty Conference. Image: Ruth and Boaz, one of the biblical stories of welcoming the stranger. … [Read more...] about Welcoming the Stranger—My Half Marathon Journey In Solidarity With World Relief
Science Corner: Health on the Range
In a week when national health care legislation is being substantially revised comes a report on health disparities between rural and urban Americans. While all-cause mortality has been declining, rural communities are seeing slower rates of improvement than urban communities, resulting in a substantial difference in mortality rates. The report focuses on 5 leading causes of death--heart disease, cancer, unintentional injury, chronic lower respiratory disease, and stroke--and discusses risk factors that differ between … [Read more...] about Science Corner: Health on the Range