Interesting TV

After a day of March madness -- the upsets & drama of NCAA men's basketball tournament games, I was looking for other things to watch. I spent an hour on PBS learning about brain plasticity and brain fitness. I love learning about learning. Anyway, then I passed right by "The Ten Commandments" (yes, it is Easter weekend) and landed on The History Channel for "Protestant Reformation," which lasted to midnight. Not the Reformation, but the program.

Always eager, at least for the recent years, to hear and learn more about how faith and religion twist throughout world history, I watched this program and found it intriguing. That made for a wild Saturday night of viewing -- history does have it's wildness. The interviews and information connected many parts of current life -- in church and business -- to the Protestant Reformation. I've spent this morning reading my notes again and doing more research. I find it all fascinating and more extensive than I recall from earlier history lessons in high school and college. Age comes with a sort of enlightenment, perhaps. That's fun for me, but probably gets me scratched right off some party invitations. Maybe I'd lose some weight on a Diet of Worms.

Expression

"Law alone cannot secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be a spirit of tolerance in the entire population."

Albert Einstein

Immigration

Hot topic these days. My friend from college just asked me what I thought about illegal immigration, since I live in California and that state seems to be more impacted than upstate New York, where my friend lives. I struggled to answer. That is just it. I have no answer -- no solution. I do have some basic beliefs that include:

1. Belief in human dignity for all people created in God's image.
2. Curiosity about the value of political boundaries, and the concept of "illegal" in this context.
   
3. Acceptance that resources to care for all people are limited under the current structures (health care, education, housing, etc.)
4. People who truely behave badly, such as truely guilty felons, need to return to their country of origin.
5. Myths surrounding immigrants carry too much power and inaccurate information.
6. Inconsistencies in who is welcome, who is not, and who we choose to go "help" in the world.
7. Anytime a people group is targeted as a problem, that is a dangerous sign.
8. What about welfare abuse by American citizens?

So, as often happens, the more I think about some issues, the more questions I have.