Understanding the Governor’s Opposition to Housing Refugees in Arkansas

Current Events,

Yesterday Governor Asa Hutchinson joined many U.S. governors in opposing efforts to relocate Syrian refugees to the United States. Governor Hutchinson’s statement read,

“As governor, I oppose any facility or installation in Arkansas being used as a Syrian refugee center. Many of the Syrian refugees are fleeing violence in their own country but Europe, Asia or Africa are logically the best places for resettlement or for temporary asylum. Syria is a war torn country and the United States will support our European friends in fighting ISIL in Syria and elsewhere; however, this is not the right strategy for the United States to become a permanent place of relocation. Again, I will oppose Arkansas being used as such a relocation center.

“The hardships facing these refugees and their families are beyond most of our understanding, and my thoughts and prayers are with them, but I will not support a policy that is not the best solution and that poses risk to Arkansans.”

Altogether some twenty-seven states have made it clear they do not want Syrian refugees admitted; most of these states are located in the southern or midwestern U.S., and a few national pundits have speculated these governors’ decisions are somehow racially motivated.

There is another explanation, however: When the U.S. government takes in refugees, it has a habit of sending them to live in the South or Midwest, and Arkansas is no exception.

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Research Shows Americans Still Focus on Prayer, Family at Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

Despite growing efforts to secularize celebrations this time of year, a majority of Americans still say being thankful to God is a priority at Thanksgiving.

Lifeway Research writes,

“For Americans, Thanksgiving is about faith and family, and not much else.

“More than half (56 percent) tell LifeWay Research the most important part of the annual holiday is ‘being thankful to God for my blessings.’ Almost 4 in 10 (39 percent) say ‘time with family and friends’ tops their Thanksgiving priorities.”

We have written repeatedly about calls to prayer and thanksgiving issued by everyone from the Founding Fathers to Abraham Lincoln and other U.S. Presidents. For example:

  • The Continental Congress issued a proclamation in 1778 asking Americans to set aside a day “to be observed as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer; that at one time, and with one voice, the inhabitants may acknowledge the righteous dispensations of Divine Providence, and confess their iniquities and transgressions, for which the land mourneth;”
  • Thomas Jefferson issued a thanksgiving proclamation in 1779 when he was Governor of Virginia setting aside “a day of publick and solemn THANKSGIVING to Almighty God, for his mercies, and of PRAYER, for the continuance of his favour and protection to these United States;”
  • Jefferson’s proclamation was issued in conjunction with one from the Continental Congress calling on Americans “to beseech him [God] that he would be graciously pleased to influence our publick Councils, and bless them with wisdom from on high, with unanimity, firmness and success; that he would go forth with our hosts and crown our arms with victory;”
  • In 1780 Congress again issued a thanksgiving proclamation calling on Americans to observe “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer; that all the people may assemble on that day to celebrate the praises of our Divine Benefactor; to confess our unworthiness of the least of his favours, and to offer our fervent supplications to the God of all grace;”
  • In 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued his famous Thanksgiving proclamation inviting Americans to set aside “the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.”

Pausing to give thanks to God is a powerful tradition that is part of our national heritage.

Click here to read more about LifeWay’s research.

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Judge Quashes Mountain Home Nativity Scene Ahead of Christmas

Christmas,

mthomenativityU.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks issued a ruling today quashing a Nativity scene on the Baxter County courthouse lawn, according to various news sources.

The ruling was the result of a lawsuit filed against the county by the American Humanist Association. The judge ruled the county must either stop putting up the Nativity scene or create a public forum on its lawn allowing people of all religions to place decorations on courthouse property.

However, it’s worth pointing out that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled Nativity scenes on public property constitutional in the past. In Lynch v. Donnelly the court ruled a Nativity scene on city property did not violate the Establishment Clause, writing, there was “insufficient evidence to establish that the inclusion of the crèche [Nativity scene] is a purposeful or surreptitious effort to express some kind of subtle governmental advocacy of a particular religious message. . . . The crèche [Nativity scene] in the display depicts the historical origins of this traditional event long recognized as a National Holiday [Christmas].”

Just because property is public doesn’t mean Nativity scenes and similar Christmas decorations are off-limits, as the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed and reaffirmed through the years. And as other courts have noted, the government does not have to put up an anti-Christmas decoration alongside a Christmas decoration in order to comply with the Constitution. (more…)

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