Taking Some Of The Fight Out Of A Fighting Word

The old adage, that sticks and stones break bones but words never hurt, is only half right. Sometimes, words hurt even more. Mispronounce or misspell one in literate company, and you may never recover from the sudden revelation of what to others' jaded eyes is now your defective upbringing, education, mindfulness, or all three. Use one among perceptive and caring people to curse or to let off steam at others' expense, and your eyes may quickly become the only jaded ones in the group. Let someone in on your most sensitive spots, and the very word you most dread to hear about yourself may become your permanent nickname.

And drop the wrong one into an otherwise pleasant conversation, and the temperature in the room may turn fiery faster than the liquid in the punchbowl can turn tepid. Lately, I seem to have been doing a lot of this kind of word-dropping, and the reactions I have been getting have me on the verge of making things worse by throwing in yet another word: Grow up. (Okay, two words.) I admit it: it is bugging me that several words especially on my mind these days have become so alienating to clear thinking and responsible decision-making.

Here is one of them: amnesty. I like this word. And because I do, I have been spending more time on the hot seat than I believe I should, even among fellow Christians whose working vocabulary should be putting it into play often. I readily grant that opening up any of the issues that cluster around this not so gentle word can produce diatribe as well as edification, and that it is no wonder that even best friends may fear putting too much pressure on their relationships by getting into them. But the intensity of the charge that the word carries is directly proportional to the importance of the issues to which it points.

Consider for a moment what happens to the pursuit of humane treatment of illegal immigrants in this country --- assuming, of course, that even "illegals" have a right to such --- when references to amnesty first begin to surface in the discussions. A sometimes vicious polarization quickly sets up, between people for whom what the word stands for in this context is anathema, and people for whom it is essential. In the twitching of an eye, otherwise promising proposals for immigration reform are cast into outer darkness, along with their advocates, solely on the ground that somehow, somewhere, some "illegals" just might receive some form of amnesty --- or that they will not.

If we could pull it off, it would surely be better to set this particular word aside for a while and go straight to the heart of the trouble it generates by substituting for it the word "forgiveness." Trying and even failing to effect such a change might sober up at least the professing Christians in the current debate on immigration reform. At the very least, it could bring them face to face with one of the deepest problems of living out the faith with integrity: reconciling a universal obligation to forgive even our enemies with the God-given freedom to choose not to.

On the one hand, we do not have to forgive anybody for being in this country illegally, or for bringing them here illegally, or for hiring them illegally, or even for denying them the benefits their taxes are helping pay for. We can choose to do so, however, in each of these cases and others besides, in only some or one of them, acknowledging along the way that every choice we make --- whether to forgive or not to forgive --- will have consequences for which God expects us to take responsibility. Fighting against policy proposals built around ideals of forgiveness and reconciliation, though, can only continue to contaminate the search for genuine reform. That there will be amnesty in some form is surely beyond cavil. What kind, to whom, and under what conditions are the issues, and using this word as another kind of N-word, or L (for "liberal") word, only delays the necessary reckoning with these issues that sooner or later will have to come.

Yes, we can choose not to cut any illegal immigrant any break ever. But then we will have to figure out how else to tender the forgiveness that God has made it clear we owe them, and everyone else besides. And we cannot hope to get in place anything that is genuinely reforming about our current immigration policies and their enforcement --- actually, their lack of enforcement --- until it becomes clearer to us than it now is that we dare not let amnesty become swallowed up in judgment.