Editor’s Note: The following represents the author’s studied opinion and Meridian magazine will consider manuscripts for publication which differ with the opinion cited here.
I realize that immigration is a controversial issue, so let me begin by referencing a recent official Church statement on the subject, which indicates that “undocumented status should not by itself prevent an otherwise worthy Church member from entering the temple or being ordained to the priesthood,” and concludes “Church members should avoid making judgments about fellow members in their congregations” (June 10, 2011) The principle here seems to be that eternal covenants should not be subordinated to man’s laws, which can and will change over time. Similarly, I believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ is more important than differences in race, ethnicity, nationality, or politics, and I would be happy to go on a service project or attend a temple session alongside anyone who disagrees with the opinions that follow.
There is always a difficulty in applying ancient scriptures to the modern era since the cultural contexts are quite dissimilar. For instance, the Nephites lived before the invention of nation-states with distinct borders, international treaties, or constitutionally-defined rights of citizenship. Nevertheless, our study of the Book of Mormon may identify some general principles that are relevant in many different times and places.
1. Being a member of the church is like being in a family. As King Benjamin taught, “because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons and his daughters” (Mosiah 5:7), which then makes us brothers and sisters, naturally. And later, Alma explained that the covenant of baptism included being “willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; yea, and . . . willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort” (Mosiah 18:8-9). There are times when family members get into trouble, sometimes through poor judgment or sin, but also inadvertently though bad luck or misunderstandings. Our main concern should always be the long-term welfare of those involved, both spiritually and temporally. We would hesitate to demand that abstract, harsh, inflexible punishments be applied to our own children or siblings, and we should feel the same way about our brothers and sisters in Christ, including those who were born on the other side of anational border.
2. We have obligations to strangers, and particularly to the foreigners among us. I believe the verses in scripture that are most relevant to the debate over immigration are Leviticus 19:33-34: “And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you; and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Or in a somewhat clearer modern translation: “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt” (NRSV). You may recognize an echo of the Second Great Commandment here (Matt. 22:39), which is actually a quotation from the same discussion in Leviticus 19 (verse 18, to be exact), but it is sometimes tempting to ignore parts of the Old Testament that we don’t like, particularly if they were stipulations from the outdated Law of Moses. This is where the Book of Mormon comes in.
When Jesus proclaimed the end of the Law in 3 Nephi, he also gave to the Nephites two chapters from Malachi that would have particular importance in the New Testament era, and also to readers in the Latter-days. We often cite the teachingsfrom those chapters about tithing, the coming of Elijah, and genealogy, but there is also a stern warning against “adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger” (Mal. 3:5; 3 Ne. 24:5). The word “stranger” is a translation of the Hebrew ger, which is the same term that was used in Leviticus 19:34. The Lord is equating the moral seriousness of turning aside resident aliens with that of adultery.
The lexicographer William Holladay defines ger as “a man who, either alone or with his family, leaves his village and tribe, because of war, famine, pestilence, blood-guilt, etc., and seeks shelter and sojourn elsewhere, where his right to own land, to marry, and to participate in the administration of justice . . . is curtailed.” Some may respond that they have no problem with legal immigrants or greencard holders, but I’m not sure that is the right interpretation here. Resident aliens are mentioned thirty-six times in the Old Testamentin conjunction with widows and orphans as people who are especially vulnerable, and who the chosen people have a special responsibility to look after. There are few in our society more vulnerable than undocumented immigrants, and I think the Lord would not look favorably on those who say, “The law is the law, and anyone who breaks the law is undeserving of compassion, assistance, or legal protections.”
3. Agency is essential to moral responsibility. Lehi taught that “because [people] are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good and evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day” (2 Ne. 2:26). Again and again the Book of Mormon declares that people will be held responsible for their own actions, both spiritually and temporally, and Mormon strongly condemns those who suppose that little children are capable of sinning or repenting (Moro. 8:8, 19). The point of this doctrine for the immigration debate is that many who are in this country illegally were brought here as children, and it would be grossly unfair to punish them for the sins of their parents. Perhaps it is no accident that in 2001 an LDS senator, Orrin Hatch, was one of the original sponsors of the DREAM Act, which would provide conditional permanent residency to foreigners who came to the US before the age of 16, and that another LDS senator, Harry Reid, reintroduced the DREAM Act two months ago. Whatever else you may think of immigration issues, making allowances forchildren—many of whom have been educated in American schools and who would be completely adrift in their countries of origin—should be an easy call.
4. The law can be a useful deterrent, but it can also be an instrument for persecution. The Book of Mormon teaches respect for government and the law, and at Alma 1:16-17 Mormon tells us how the people were kept in line through the fear of legal consequences. Yet the cases of Abinadi in King Noah’s court and Alma and Amulek at Ammonihah demonstrate that it is possible for people to claim legal justification for prejudice and harassment. I wonder why some Americans are so passionate about illegal immigration when they are much less concerned about other crimes like, say, tax evasion.
The tax code, like immigration law, is enormously complicated and it is easy to get things wrong, even if you are trying to do the right thing.
The penalty of deportation divides families, uproots hardworking, tax-paying individuals, and in the case of minor children who have grown up in the US, exiles them to a foreign land for no fault of their own. It as if the punishment for missing a tax deadline or taking an unallowed deduction was losing your job and having your car and house confiscated.
The punishment should fit the crime, and by and large, undocumented immigrants are not evil people. I realize that those who came into this country without authorization knew they were breaking the law, but larger economic forces beckoned with the promise of jobs and a betterlife for their families. If you have ever enjoyed low-priced fruit or relatively inexpensive hotel rooms and restaurant meals, or if you once got a good deal on construction or landscaping, you are undoubtedly part of the problem. As budget-minded consumers, we all bear some of the responsibility for the circumstances that brought undocumented laborers here. (In Mosiah 4:28 there is the striking notion that through our indifference we can cause our neighbors to commit sin). The current situation is clearly unsustainable and a change in the laws is required. The question is, where do we go from here?
Border security and limiting immigration are valid concerns, and how we deal with them will say a great deal about our national character and values. I suppose that it is possible to stop the flow of illegal immigrants by militarizing the border, requiring annual proof of status for employment,instituting random checkpoints, and requiringeveryone in the country to carry identification papers with them at all times, but even the harshest measures will have to deal with the fact that there are millions of undocumented immigrants already in this country. In another official statement issued last month, the Church articulated the problem succinctly and poignantly, in a way that reflects our own religious history:
What to do with the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants now residing in various states within the United States is the biggest challenge in the immigration debate.The bedrock moral issue for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is how we treat each other as children of God. The history of mass expulsion or mistreatment of individuals or families is cause for concern especially where race, culture, or religion are involved.This should give pause to any policy that contemplates targeting any one group, particularly if that group comes mostly from one heritage. (June 10, 2011)
There is an implicit suggestion here that we as Latter-day Saints know what it is like to be driven out from our homes, and we are not going to do that to other people. The idea that we should forcibly deport millions is clearly untenable, and the temptation to think that some people are inconvenient, that their presence will decrease our standard of living, that we wish they would just disappear, without any regard for human cost or moral principles, is somewhat akin to the sentiments that can lead a governor to issue an extermination order. To update Leviticus: “The stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you; and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Missouri.”
There are also a few specific teachings in the Book of Mormon that may have some bearing on the immigration question, depending how we interpret the role of the United States in Nephite prophecy and how we identify the descendants of the Lamanites (who at least potentially may include Hispanics).
5. This is a land of liberty and refuge. If Lehi was referring to the America in 2 Nephi 1, his words carry a powerful promise: “Wherefore, I, Lehi, prophesy according to the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that there shall none come into this land save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord. Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them” (2 Ne. 1:6-7). Perhaps many of the people who are now in this country were brought here by the hand of the Lord. And that seems especially plausible if, while here, they have heard and accepted the gospel message.
The story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies in Alma 27 offers a Book of Mormon precedent for dealing with immigrants who are seeking liberty and refuge. These Lamanites had been converted by the sons of Mosiah and then faced deadly repercussions from their neighbors. The missionaries suggested they ask the Nephites for refuge, and when they arrived at the border, “the chief judge sent a proclamation throughout all the land, desiring the voice of the people concerning the admitting their brethren, who were the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi” (v. 21). In this case, compassion overcame fear, and the Nephites welcomed in the newcomers, at a significant cost to themselves—they provided them with land and protection, and even accommodated their unique tradition of religious pacifism, though they did ask them to contribute what they could.
6. This is the land of inheritance for the Lamanites. When Christ taught the Nephites, he prophesied that if the Gentiles would “repent and hearken unto my words, and harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant and be numbered among this the remnant of Jacob [the Lamanites], unto whom I have given this land for their inheritance” (3 Ne. 21:22). Perhaps this refers to the American Indians, or it may have application to indigenous peoples throughout the Americas. In either case, it echoes earlier prophecies by Jacob, Nephi’s brother, that the Gentiles would play a significant role in assisting immigration to the promised land of America:
And now, the words which I shall read are they which Isaiah spakeconcerning all the house of Israel; wherefore, they may be likened unto you, for ye are of the house of Israel. And now these are the words: Thus said the Lord God: Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people; and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers. (2 Ne. 6:5-6, citing Isa. 49:22-23)
Later in the sermon Jacob returns to this same quotation when he explains to his family how this land “shall be a land of thine inheritance, and the Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land. And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles.” He further declares the word of God that “I will afflict thy seed by the hand of the Gentiles; nevertheless, I will soften the hearts of the Gentiles, that they shall be like unto a father to them.” (2 Ne. 10:9-11, 18). Rather than resisting immigration from Latin America, perhaps Latter-day Saints should soften their hearts and take the lead in welcoming it.
It would be one way to fulfill the Book of Mormon injunction that we should be personally helping to gather the house of Israel to the lands of their inheritance, as if we were carrying toddlers on our shoulders.
The question of undocumented immigrants is a difficult one, and it cannot be lightly dismissed simply by quoting the Twelfth Article of Faith. In fact, in 1842, when Joseph Smith penned the words “We believe in . . . obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law,” he himself was practicing polygamy, which was illegal in his home state of Illinois (where cohabitation as well as bigamy was explicitly prohibited). Weighty legal and political issues are hardly ever simple, especially when we are forced to balance competing goods and ethical commitments. Our church leaders have recognized this dilemma with their declaration that “in furtherance of needed immigration reform in the United States, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints supports a balanced and civil approach to a challenging problem, fully consistent with its tradition of compassion, its reverence for family, and its commitment to law” (Official statement, June 10, 2011).
In a contest between compassion and law (both important values), in an issue with profound implications for families, something will have to give. It is reminiscent of Book of Mormon teachings about justice and mercy (Alma 42:11-28). Ultimately, the only reconciliation is through Christ, though in the case of US immigration, we as citizens have the opportunity to change the laws to better reflect our highest principles. Some basically good individuals, often caught in difficult circumstances not of their own making, have broken the law. Others through mistakes, errors in judgment, or the actions of their parents, now find themselves living here illegally. But if people have done wrong, we need to offer them a way to make it right, and that does not necessarily require the harshest legal sanctions possible.
Again, to quote the recent official statement: “The Church supports an approach where undocumented immigrants are allowed to square themselves with the law and continue to work without this necessarily leading to citizenship.” The brethren have wisely taken a very moderate position. I, however, am not so circumspect. What is wrong with offering full citizenship and even amnesty, given certain conditions and penalties? After all, despite our own sins and mistakes, we have been offered spiritual amnesty and full citizenship in the kingdom of God. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of second chances. How could we, who have been given so much, turn around and be so stingy with the resources that we have stewardship over? There is a parable in the New Testament to this effect(that of the Unmerciful Servant in Matt. 18:21-35), or as King Benjamin put it, “If God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have, one to another! (Mosiah 4:21). Even though the United States government makes distinctions, with some merit, it is worth remembering that “all are alike unto God (2 Ne. 26:33), regardless of where they were born.
Grant Hardy is the editor of The Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Edition (University of Illinois Press, 2003) and the author of Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide (Oxford University Press, 2010). He is a professor of History and Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina—Asheville.
Editor’s Note: The following represents the author’s studied opinion and Meridian magazine will consider manuscripts for publication which differ with the opinion cited here.
I realize that immigration is a controversial issue, so let me begin by referencing a recent official Church statement on the subject, which indicates that “undocumented status should not by itself prevent an otherwise worthy Church member from entering the temple or being ordained to the priesthood,” and concludes “Church members should avoid making judgments about fellow members in their congregations” (June 10, 2011) The principle here seems to be that eternal covenants should not be subordinated to man’s laws, which can and will change over time. Similarly, I believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ is more important than differences in race, ethnicity, nationality, or politics, and I would be happy to go on a service project or attend a temple session alongside anyone who disagrees with the opinions that follow.
There is always a difficulty in applying ancient scriptures to the modern era since the cultural contexts are quite dissimilar. For instance, the Nephites lived before the invention of nation-states with distinct borders, international treaties, or constitutionally-defined rights of citizenship. Nevertheless, our study of the Book of Mormon may identify some general principles that are relevant in many different times and places.
1. Being a member of the church is like being in a family. As King Benjamin taught, “because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons and his daughters” (Mosiah 5:7), which then makes us brothers and sisters, naturally. And later, Alma explained that the covenant of baptism included being “willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; yea, and . . . willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort” (Mosiah 18:8-9). There are times when family members get into trouble, sometimes through poor judgment or sin, but also inadvertently though bad luck or misunderstandings. Our main concern should always be the long-term welfare of those involved, both spiritually and temporally. We would hesitate to demand that abstract, harsh, inflexible punishments be applied to our own children or siblings, and we should feel the same way about our brothers and sisters in Christ, including those who were born on the other side of anational border.
2. We have obligations to strangers, and particularly to the foreigners among us. I believe the verses in scripture that are most relevant to the debate over immigration are Leviticus 19:33-34: “And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you; and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Or in a somewhat clearer modern translation: “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt” (NRSV). You may recognize an echo of the Second Great Commandment here (Matt. 22:39), which is actually a quotation from the same discussion in Leviticus 19 (verse 18, to be exact), but it is sometimes tempting to ignore parts of the Old Testament that we don’t like, particularly if they were stipulations from the outdated Law of Moses. This is where the Book of Mormon comes in.
When Jesus proclaimed the end of the Law in 3 Nephi, he also gave to the Nephites two chapters from Malachi that would have particular importance in the New Testament era, and also to readers in the Latter-days. We often cite the teachingsfrom those chapters about tithing, the coming of Elijah, and genealogy, but there is also a stern warning against “adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger” (Mal. 3:5; 3 Ne. 24:5). The word “stranger” is a translation of the Hebrew ger, which is the same term that was used in Leviticus 19:34. The Lord is equating the moral seriousness of turning aside resident aliens with that of adultery.
The lexicographer William Holladay defines ger as “a man who, either alone or with his family, leaves his village and tribe, because of war, famine, pestilence, blood-guilt, etc., and seeks shelter and sojourn elsewhere, where his right to own land, to marry, and to participate in the administration of justice . . . is curtailed.” Some may respond that they have no problem with legal immigrants or greencard holders, but I’m not sure that is the right interpretation here. Resident aliens are mentioned thirty-six times in the Old Testamentin conjunction with widows and orphans as people who are especially vulnerable, and who the chosen people have a special responsibility to look after. There are few in our society more vulnerable than undocumented immigrants, and I think the Lord would not look favorably on those who say, “The law is the law, and anyone who breaks the law is undeserving of compassion, assistance, or legal protections.”
3. Agency is essential to moral responsibility. Lehi taught that “because [people] are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good and evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day” (2 Ne. 2:26). Again and again the Book of Mormon declares that people will be held responsible for their own actions, both spiritually and temporally, and Mormon strongly condemns those who suppose that little children are capable of sinning or repenting (Moro. 8:8, 19). The point of this doctrine for the immigration debate is that many who are in this country illegally were brought here as children, and it would be grossly unfair to punish them for the sins of their parents. Perhaps it is no accident that in 2001 an LDS senator, Orrin Hatch, was one of the original sponsors of the DREAM Act, which would provide conditional permanent residency to foreigners who came to the US before the age of 16, and that another LDS senator, Harry Reid, reintroduced the DREAM Act two months ago. Whatever else you may think of immigration issues, making allowances forchildren—many of whom have been educated in American schools and who would be completely adrift in their countries of origin—should be an easy call.
4. The law can be a useful deterrent, but it can also be an instrument for persecution. The Book of Mormon teaches respect for government and the law, and at Alma 1:16-17 Mormon tells us how the people were kept in line through the fear of legal consequences. Yet the cases of Abinadi in King Noah’s court and Alma and Amulek at Ammonihah demonstrate that it is possible for people to claim legal justification for prejudice and harassment. I wonder why some Americans are so passionate about illegal immigration when they are much less concerned about other crimes like, say, tax evasion.
The tax code, like immigration law, is enormously complicated and it is easy to get things wrong, even if you are trying to do the right thing.
The penalty of deportation divides families, uproots hardworking, tax-paying individuals, and in the case of minor children who have grown up in the US, exiles them to a foreign land for no fault of their own. It as if the punishment for missing a tax deadline or taking an unallowed deduction was losing your job and having your car and house confiscated.
The punishment should fit the crime, and by and large, undocumented immigrants are not evil people. I realize that those who came into this country without authorization knew they were breaking the law, but larger economic forces beckoned with the promise of jobs and a betterlife for their families. If you have ever enjoyed low-priced fruit or relatively inexpensive hotel rooms and restaurant meals, or if you once got a good deal on construction or landscaping, you are undoubtedly part of the problem. As budget-minded consumers, we all bear some of the responsibility for the circumstances that brought undocumented laborers here. (In Mosiah 4:28 there is the striking notion that through our indifference we can cause our neighbors to commit sin). The current situation is clearly unsustainable and a change in the laws is required. The question is, where do we go from here?
Border security and limiting immigration are valid concerns, and how we deal with them will say a great deal about our national character and values. I suppose that it is possible to stop the flow of illegal immigrants by militarizing the border, requiring annual proof of status for employment,instituting random checkpoints, and requiringeveryone in the country to carry identification papers with them at all times, but even the harshest measures will have to deal with the fact that there are millions of undocumented immigrants already in this country. In another official statement issued last month, the Church articulated the problem succinctly and poignantly, in a way that reflects our own religious history:
What to do with the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants now residing in various states within the United States is the biggest challenge in the immigration debate.The bedrock moral issue for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is how we treat each other as children of God. The history of mass expulsion or mistreatment of individuals or families is cause for concern especially where race, culture, or religion are involved.This should give pause to any policy that contemplates targeting any one group, particularly if that group comes mostly from one heritage. (June 10, 2011)
There is an implicit suggestion here that we as Latter-day Saints know what it is like to be driven out from our homes, and we are not going to do that to other people. The idea that we should forcibly deport millions is clearly untenable, and the temptation to think that some people are inconvenient, that their presence will decrease our standard of living, that we wish they would just disappear, without any regard for human cost or moral principles, is somewhat akin to the sentiments that can lead a governor to issue an extermination order. To update Leviticus: “The stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you; and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Missouri.”
There are also a few specific teachings in the Book of Mormon that may have some bearing on the immigration question, depending how we interpret the role of the United States in Nephite prophecy and how we identify the descendants of the Lamanites (who at least potentially may include Hispanics).
5. This is a land of liberty and refuge. If Lehi was referring to the America in 2 Nephi 1, his words carry a powerful promise: “Wherefore, I, Lehi, prophesy according to the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that there shall none come into this land save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord. Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them” (2 Ne. 1:6-7). Perhaps many of the people who are now in this country were brought here by the hand of the Lord. And that seems especially plausible if, while here, they have heard and accepted the gospel message.
The story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies in Alma 27 offers a Book of Mormon precedent for dealing with immigrants who are seeking liberty and refuge. These Lamanites had been converted by the sons of Mosiah and then faced deadly repercussions from their neighbors. The missionaries suggested they ask the Nephites for refuge, and when they arrived at the border, “the chief judge sent a proclamation throughout all the land, desiring the voice of the people concerning the admitting their brethren, who were the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi” (v. 21). In this case, compassion overcame fear, and the Nephites welcomed in the newcomers, at a significant cost to themselves—they provided them with land and protection, and even accommodated their unique tradition of religious pacifism, though they did ask them to contribute what they could.
6. This is the land of inheritance for the Lamanites. When Christ taught the Nephites, he prophesied that if the Gentiles would “repent and hearken unto my words, and harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant and be numbered among this the remnant of Jacob [the Lamanites], unto whom I have given this land for their inheritance” (3 Ne. 21:22). Perhaps this refers to the American Indians, or it may have application to indigenous peoples throughout the Americas. In either case, it echoes earlier prophecies by Jacob, Nephi’s brother, that the Gentiles would play a significant role in assisting immigration to the promised land of America:
And now, the words which I shall read are they which Isaiah spakeconcerning all the house of Israel; wherefore, they may be likened unto you, for ye are of the house of Israel. And now these are the words: Thus said the Lord God: Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people; and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers. (2 Ne. 6:5-6, citing Isa. 49:22-23)
Later in the sermon Jacob returns to this same quotation when he explains to his family how this land “shall be a land of thine inheritance, and the Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land. And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles.” He further declares the word of God that “I will afflict thy seed by the hand of the Gentiles; nevertheless, I will soften the hearts of the Gentiles, that they shall be like unto a father to them.” (2 Ne. 10:9-11, 18). Rather than resisting immigration from Latin America, perhaps Latter-day Saints should soften their hearts and take the lead in welcoming it.
It would be one way to fulfill the Book of Mormon injunction that we should be personally helping to gather the house of Israel to the lands of their inheritance, as if we were carrying toddlers on our shoulders.
The question of undocumented immigrants is a difficult one, and it cannot be lightly dismissed simply by quoting the Twelfth Article of Faith. In fact, in 1842, when Joseph Smith penned the words “We believe in . . . obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law,” he himself was practicing polygamy, which was illegal in his home state of Illinois (where cohabitation as well as bigamy was explicitly prohibited). Weighty legal and political issues are hardly ever simple, especially when we are forced to balance competing goods and ethical commitments. Our church leaders have recognized this dilemma with their declaration that “in furtherance of needed immigration reform in the United States, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints supports a balanced and civil approach to a challenging problem, fully consistent with its tradition of compassion, its reverence for family, and its commitment to law” (Official statement, June 10, 2011).
In a contest between compassion and law (both important values), in an issue with profound implications for families, something will have to give. It is reminiscent of Book of Mormon teachings about justice and mercy (Alma 42:11-28). Ultimately, the only reconciliation is through Christ, though in the case of US immigration, we as citizens have the opportunity to change the laws to better reflect our highest principles. Some basically good individuals, often caught in difficult circumstances not of their own making, have broken the law. Others through mistakes, errors in judgment, or the actions of their parents, now find themselves living here illegally. But if people have done wrong, we need to offer them a way to make it right, and that does not necessarily require the harshest legal sanctions possible.
Again, to quote the recent official statement: “The Church supports an approach where undocumented immigrants are allowed to square themselves with the law and continue to work without this necessarily leading to citizenship.” The brethren have wisely taken a very moderate position. I, however, am not so circumspect. What is wrong with offering full citizenship and even amnesty, given certain conditions and penalties? After all, despite our own sins and mistakes, we have been offered spiritual amnesty and full citizenship in the kingdom of God. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of second chances. How could we, who have been given so much, turn around and be so stingy with the resources that we have stewardship over? There is a parable in the New Testament to this effect(that of the Unmerciful Servant in Matt. 18:21-35), or as King Benjamin put it, “If God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have, one to another! (Mosiah 4:21). Even though the United States government makes distinctions, with some merit, it is worth remembering that “all are alike unto God (2 Ne. 26:33), regardless of where they were born.
Grant Hardy is the editor of The Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Edition (University of Illinois Press, 2003) and the author of Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide (Oxford University Press, 2010). He is a professor of History and Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina—Asheville.
Page 1 of 3
Editor’s Note: The following represents the author’s studied opinion and Meridian magazine will consider manuscripts for publication which differ with the opinion cited here.
I realize that immigration is a controversial issue, so let me begin by referencing a recent official Church statement on the subject, which indicates that “undocumented status should not by itself prevent an otherwise worthy Church member from entering the temple or being ordained to the priesthood,” and concludes “Church members should avoid making judgments about fellow members in their congregations” (June 10, 2011) The principle here seems to be that eternal covenants should not be subordinated to man’s laws, which can and will change over time. Similarly, I believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ is more important than differences in race, ethnicity, nationality, or politics, and I would be happy to go on a service project or attend a temple session alongside anyone who disagrees with the opinions that follow.
There is always a difficulty in applying ancient scriptures to the modern era since the cultural contexts are quite dissimilar. For instance, the Nephites lived before the invention of nation-states with distinct borders, international treaties, or constitutionally-defined rights of citizenship. Nevertheless, our study of the Book of Mormon may identify some general principles that are relevant in many different times and places.
1. Being a member of the church is like being in a family. As King Benjamin taught, “because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons and his daughters” (Mosiah 5:7), which then makes us brothers and sisters, naturally. And later, Alma explained that the covenant of baptism included being “willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; yea, and . . . willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort” (Mosiah 18:8-9). There are times when family members get into trouble, sometimes through poor judgment or sin, but also inadvertently though bad luck or misunderstandings. Our main concern should always be the long-term welfare of those involved, both spiritually and temporally. We would hesitate to demand that abstract, harsh, inflexible punishments be applied to our own children or siblings, and we should feel the same way about our brothers and sisters in Christ, including those who were born on the other side of anational border.
2. We have obligations to strangers, and particularly to the foreigners among us. I believe the verses in scripture that are most relevant to the debate over immigration are Leviticus 19:33-34: “And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you; and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Or in a somewhat clearer modern translation: “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt” (NRSV). You may recognize an echo of the Second Great Commandment here (Matt. 22:39), which is actually a quotation from the same discussion in Leviticus 19 (verse 18, to be exact), but it is sometimes tempting to ignore parts of the Old Testament that we don’t like, particularly if they were stipulations from the outdated Law of Moses. This is where the Book of Mormon comes in.
When Jesus proclaimed the end of the Law in 3 Nephi, he also gave to the Nephites two chapters from Malachi that would have particular importance in the New Testament era, and also to readers in the Latter-days. We often cite the teachingsfrom those chapters about tithing, the coming of Elijah, and genealogy, but there is also a stern warning against “adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger” (Mal. 3:5; 3 Ne. 24:5). The word “stranger” is a translation of the Hebrew ger, which is the same term that was used in Leviticus 19:34. The Lord is equating the moral seriousness of turning aside resident aliens with that of adultery.
The lexicographer William Holladay defines ger as “a man who, either alone or with his family, leaves his village and tribe, because of war, famine, pestilence, blood-guilt, etc., and seeks shelter and sojourn elsewhere, where his right to own land, to marry, and to participate in the administration of justice . . . is curtailed.” Some may respond that they have no problem with legal immigrants or greencard holders, but I’m not sure that is the right interpretation here. Resident aliens are mentioned thirty-six times in the Old Testamentin conjunction with widows and orphans as people who are especially vulnerable, and who the chosen people have a special responsibility to look after. There are few in our society more vulnerable than undocumented immigrants, and I think the Lord would not look favorably on those who say, “The law is the law, and anyone who breaks the law is undeserving of compassion, assistance, or legal protections.”
3. Agency is essential to moral responsibility. Lehi taught that “because [people] are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good and evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day” (2 Ne. 2:26). Again and again the Book of Mormon declares that people will be held responsible for their own actions, both spiritually and temporally, and Mormon strongly condemns those who suppose that little children are capable of sinning or
repenting (Moro. 8:8, 19). The point of this doctrine for the immigration debate is that many who are in this country illegally were brought here as children, and it would be grossly unfair to punish them for the sins of their parents. Perhaps it is no accident that in 2001 an LDS senator, Orrin Hatch, was one of the original sponsors of the DREAM Act, which would provide conditional permanent residency to foreigners who came to the US before the age of 16, and that another LDS senator, Harry Reid, reintroduced the DREAM Act two months ago. Whatever else you may think of immigration issues, making allowances forchildren—many of whom have been educated in American schools and who would be completely adrift in their countries of origin—should be an easy call.
4. The law can be a useful deterrent, but it can also be an instrument for persecution. The Book of Mormon teaches respect for government and the law, and at Alma 1:16-17 Mormon tells us how the people were kept in line through the fear of legal consequences. Yet the cases of Abinadi in King Noah’s court and Alma and Amulek at Ammonihah demonstrate that it is possible for people to claim legal justification for prejudice and harassment. I wonder why some Americans are so passionate about illegal immigration when they are much less concerned about other crimes like, say, tax evasion.
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