Who loves the little children?

There was a simple song I learned in church when I was a kid. If you were a preschooler from a Christian family in the 80s, you probably learned it too. We sang it often in my childhood church: Jesus Loves the Little Children. You know the words, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.

It was a comforting concept for us kids under the age of six. If Jesus loves children, and I am a child, logical deduction means Jesus loves me. They gave us coloring sheets of Jesus, drawn to look like a surfer dude in a bathrobe, surrounded by kids our age. Jesus and the kids were always smiling in these pictures, images of love and hope even if it was a smidge myopic. We were told Bible stories of how the disciples tried to keep kids away from Jesus, but he scolded them and insisted on playing with the youngsters. These stories told us of a Jesus who said the kingdom of God belongs to children, and how grownups need the faith of a child if they want salvation.

image courtesy Catholic Sistas

Innocence of childhood was foundational. Jesus loved us, and adults should seek to discover our pure faith. As I grew up, the churches I attended continued to elevate school aged children as our most prized populations. They were the next generation. They were our future. And Jesus loved them.

My personal faith has matured over the years. I struggle to see the world with child-like wonder, yet I still believe kids are precious and should always be protected. I believe in a Jesus who said it would be better for a person to be drowned in the sea with a millstone hung around their neck than to bring harm to a child.

While watching and reading news stories over the last week, I kept singing this song in my head. Jesus loves the little children. Jesus loves these immigrant children. Jesus loves kids brought into America by parents illegally crossing the border. Jesus loves kids torn away from parents seeking asylum. Jesus loves these kids who were endangered in their homelands. Jesus loves all the children now sleeping on concrete floors, caged in by chain link fencing. Jesus loves the children held in overcrowded tent cities somewhere in the Texan desert. Jesus loves the little children of the world, including those from Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras. Jesus loves them, even if we don't.

I'm beginning to wonder if the elders and Sunday School teachers who taught me this song really believe what it says. Maybe they don't. Maybe it's a sham. Looking at the evangelical community now, a more accurate title would be "Jesus loves the little children, but not these children." I remember the lyrics and the colors listed: red, yellow, black, white. I recognize brown was not included and think perhaps that was intentional. I am stupefied how the people who once told me stories of Jesus saying, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these," now have no issues seeing Latino kids detained and in tears because it's a necessary deterrent.

This is cognitive dissonance. One cannot profess faith in a God who cherishes and defends children while approving of an inhumane policy that needlessly separates children from their families, cruelly housing them in emotionally (and possibly physically) abusive environments. You cannot simultaneously teach of a God who loves all the children of the world and harbor disgust for immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. Belief in a God who calls you to love and care for orphans is incompatible with supporting a government who creates instant orphans and uses them as a bargaining chip.

I shouldn't be surprised though. The church leaders who once warned me that gambling was a sin voted for a man who owned multiple casinos. They told me to stay away from strip clubs, but you can find strip clubs inside buildings emblazoned with the name of their anointed one. They urged me to never look at or watch pornography, yet they've embraced a man who has appeared on the cover of Playboy and married a woman who worked as a nude model. They taught me about the depravities of porn and prostitution, but the rumors of their president having affairs with porn stars and Russian prostitutes don’t matter to them. They preached about the sanctity of marriage yet approve of this man who went through multiple divorces, has had several documented affairs, and often boasted about having sex with women married to other men. Their lessons on pride are overshadowed by their infatuation with the most arrogant president of modern times. They once valued truth, now they celebrate a man who has (on average) lied 6.5 times every day since taking office.

If this is you I'm talking about, I won't denigrate you. But I can't take you seriously either. You follow tenets of faith that value fidelity, humility, honesty, and compassion. You also wholly approve of a president who does not display any of those traits. You're free to support Trump, yet I fear by doing so you walked through the wide gate and are now walking the wide road to destruction. I hope you enjoy the world you exchanged for your soul. While border patrol is herding kids into tents and cages, I eagerly await the end of this chapter of American history. In the meantime, I still believe Jesus loves these little children, even if you don't.