On Oct. 7, 1885, a 16-year-old German barber named Friedrich boarded a ship for New York. Fleeing the military service then required in Germany, he became one of more than 1 million German immigrants who flooded these shores between 1880 and 1885.
Once he had accumulated enough money, Friedrich married a girl from his hometown in Bavaria. He then tried to move back to Germany, but when his draft dodging past was uncovered, he lost his German citizenship. He was forced to return to the U.S., where he was admitted a second time despite his history.
Nearly 140 years later, on Jan. 21, 2025, the grandson of that barber, whose full name was Friedrich Trump, became the 47th president of the United States and attended a church service at the National Cathedral. In her sermon that day, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington D.C., Mariann Budde, addressed the new president directly.
According to Forbes, she said in part: “In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now … The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals.
“They … may not be citizens or have the proper documentation. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurdwaras and temples. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away.
“And that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here.”
This is a nation made up almost entirely of the children of immigrants. In fact, many of us, like Donald Trump himself, are only two or three generations removed from their forebears who first got off the boat.
And yet that’s not the only or even the most important reason that we are asking for compassion for those seeking our hospitality. We do it because it is what our God asks of us.
As it says in Exodus 23:9, “You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.”
In Matthew 25, Jesus says that anyone who welcomes the foreigner, welcomes him, and so Jesus will welcome that person in eternity while turning away from those who do not.
And Islam teaches: “Whoever grants respite to someone in difficulty or alleviates him, Allah will shade him on the Day of Resurrection when there is no shade but his.”
From Buddhist Canonical Texts: “Even as a mother protects with her life, her child, her only child, so with a boundless heart, should one cherish all living beings; radiating kindness over the entire world.”
All this adds up to one thing, compassion for the strangers among us. Those of us who, like Donald Trump, are children of immigrants, should thank the Americans who came before us that they did not decide to throw out our ancestors.
Your South County Faith Leaders ask, do we really want to be the ones that do that to others?
Rev. Dr. Ernest Boyer wrote this column on behalf of himself and Iman Ilyas Anwar, Rabbi Faith Joy Dantowitz, Pastor Linda Holbrook, Rabbi Debbie Israel, Pastor Ronald Koch, Abbot Phrakrubhavanavides (Manikanto Bhikkhu), Rev. Jose Antonio Rubio and Pastor Anita Warner.
